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90th Congress, 2d Session House Document No. 377

THE PRESENT-DAY KU KLUX KLAN
MOVEMENT

citeSS

REPORT

BY THE

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NINETIETH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

THE Ol !TY

OF ■/)

JUN 2 1969

THE LIBRARY

Release Date: DECEMBER 11, 1967
(INCLUDING INDEX)

98-H136 O

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1967

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402- Price $1.26

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
United States House of Representatives

EDWIN E. WILLIS, Louisiana, Chairman

WILLIAM M. TUCK, Virginia
JOE R. POOL, Texas
RICHARD H. ICHORD, Missouri
JOHN C. CULVER, Iowa

JOHN M. ASHBROOK, Ohio
DEL CLAWSON, California
RICHARD L. ROUDEBUSH, Indiana
ALBERT W. WATSON, South Carolina

Francis J. mcNamara, Director

Chester D. Smith, General Counsel

Alfred M. Nittle, Counsel

H. Con. Res. 781

Passed August 1, 1968

ninetieth Congress of the lanited States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the fifteenth day of
January, one thousand nine hundred anil sixty-eight

Concurrent Resolution

Resolved by the Notice of Representatives (the Senate concurring) .
That there be printed as a House document with three thousand addi-
tional copies for the use of the Committee on Un-American Activities
the publication entitled "The Present-Day Ku Klux Klan Movement,'
Ninetieth Congress, first session.

Attest :
Attest:

W. Pat Jennings,
Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Francis R. Valeo,
Secretary of the Senate.

Hel

CONTENTS

Page

Foreword j

Chapter I. 'Historical Background ZZZZZZZZZZZ~_ZZ 3

Chapter II. Organizations Comprising the Modern Klan Movement 17

Chapter III.', Secrecy and Ritual of the Klans _ _ _ 63

White Kn ; ghts of Ku Klux Klan directive entitled "Secrecy" (Harold

Delk Exhibit No 1— January 14, 1966) 70

Chapter IVk.Klan Objectives, Real and Imaginary """ 75

Chapter V.' Public Klan Activity ~~ 73

Chapter VI. Klans as Purveyors of Violence ~~~~ %

Chapter VII. Background of Some Klan Officers and Members ~~ZZ 125

Chapter VIII. Summary 135

Appendix.

Chart of Klaverns of Existing Klan Organizations, 1964-1966, . . 145

Executive Lecture of March 1, 1964 (Burrel White Exhibit No. 2—

January 13, 1966) 164

Imperial Executive Order, May 3, 1964 (Burrel White Exhibit No." I—

January 13, 1966) _ \qq

Harassment (James Jones Exhibit No. 34-^October 21, 1965)" ZZZ " 172

Articles of Incorporation, U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,

Inc. (Wm. Daniel Exhibit No. 1— November 1, 1965) 174

Articles of Incorporation, Invisible Empire, United Klans, Knights
Ku Klux Klan of America, Inc. (Robert Shelton Exhibit No. 2 —

October 19, 1965) 177

~> Constitution and Laws of the United Klans of America, Inc., Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan (Robert Shelton Exhibit No. 3— -October 19,

1965) ' 181

J Constitution of White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of" Mississippi

(Gorden Lackey Exhibit No. 2— January 12, 1966) ._ 253

WASP, Inc., bulletin (Sam Bowers Exhibit No. 4— February 1,

1966) 293

Mississippi White Caps bulletin (Sam Bowers Exhibit No. 3— Feb-
ruary 1, 1966) 295

Konstitution of the Original Ku Klux Klan, Realm of Louisiana

(Murry Martin Exhibit No. 2— January 4, 1966) _ 297

Charter of Original Ku Klux Klan of America, Inc. (B. J. Saucier

Exhibit No. 1 — January 7, 1966) _ 320

Charter of National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. "(James

Venable Exhibit No. 1— February 15, 1966) 325

Certificate of Authority for National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,

Inc., to do business in North Carolina _ 329

Charter of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Ohio, Inc.

(Bobby Stephens Exhibit No. 2— February 10, 1966) 332

Charter of Defensive Legion of Registered Americans, Inc. (James

Venable Exhibit No. 3-C— February 15, 1966) 335

Articles of Incorporation of Improved Order of the U.S. Klans, Knights

of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc 339

Oath used by United Klans of America, Inc., and others "(Robert

Shelton Exhibit No. 4— October 19, 1965) _ ___ 343

The Seven Symbols of The Klan— UKA leaflet '(Alien Bayne Exhibit

No. 3— November 2, 1965) 347

Petition for and Order of Incorporation of Clayton Civic Club" Inc.

(Wesley Bailey Exhibit No. 1— November 2, 1965) 353

Articles of Incorporation of New Hanover County Improvement
Association, Inc. (Richard Constantineau Exhibit No. 2 — October
25,1965) 356

<:<>NTI<!NTH

A|i|niiili || i '.ml i il Pago

I li n in ol [noorporal Ion Of AiIiuiim < 'ounly (<ivic & Betterment Associ-

atlon (Paul Poster Exhibit No. 2 Februarys. 1966) 359

AiIm-Ic;; hi Incorporation of Anti-CoroniunlBt Christian Association

(Saxon Farmer Exhibit No, I January . r », L966) 362

The Prinoiplo Of the United KIiuin of America, Knights of the Ku

K In x Klan UKA loallot, (Allen Bayne Exhibit No. 1 — November 2,

1986) _ 366

Index i

The House Committee on Un-American Activities is a standing com-
mittee of the House of Representatives, constituted as such by the
rules of the House, adopted pursuant to Article I. section 5, of the
Constitution of the United States which authorizes the House to deter-
mine the rules of its proceedings.

RULES ADOPTED BY THE 90TH CONGRESS

House Resolution 7, January 10, 1967

RESOLUTION

Resolved, That the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Eighty-ninth
Congress, together with all applicable provisions of the Legislative Reorganization
Act of 1946, as amended, be, and they are hereby, adopted as the Rules of the
House of Representatives of the Ninetieth Congress * * *

Rule X

STANDING COMMITTEES

1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress,

*******
(r) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.

Rule XI

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES

18. Committee on Un-American Activities.

(a) Un-American activities.

(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee,
is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, charac-
ter k and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2)
the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda
that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the
principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3)
all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary
remedial legislation.

The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.

For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times
and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has
recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of
such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.

*******
27. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in
developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary,
each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness
of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject
matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee ; and, for that pur-
pose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the
agencies in the executive branch of the Government.

FOREWORD

This report presents some of the evidence regarding modern ku
klux klan operations which the committee obtained as a result of a
full-scale investigation during the 89th Congress.

In order to compile this evidence, the committee had to penetrate
a curtain of secrecy which surrounds the innermost workings of a klan
organization.

Relatively few klansmen interrogated by the committee showed any
willingness to violate their klan oath to "die rather than divulge"
information about the organization. The committee nevertheless
gained considerable insight into the functioning of a klan through the
cooperation of those klansmen, past and present, who were willing to
testify in executive and public sessions or furnish information to com-
mittee investigators. Case studies of individuals and organizations se-
lected as targets by klan activists were also illuminating.

Members of the investigative staff conducted field investigations in
Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, as well as in such Northern States as
New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Ohio. I will not attempt to
describe all of the facets pursued and difficulties encountered in the
course of the intensive staff work from the time the committee ap-
proved a formal inquiry in March 1965 until the start of public hear-
ings in October of that year. The results which are summarized in this
report should demonstrate that the investigation was painstaking,
thorough, and extremely productive. I would like to express at this
time, however, the committee's appreciation of the wholehearted co-
operation it received from many law enforcement agencies.

The purpose of the investigation was to give Congress facts which
would aid it in the enactment of any remedial legislation which might
be considered necessary to deal with problems created by klan activity
in the United States. This report has the same purpose.

What kind of facts must Congress have to determine whether or
not legislative action may be called for in this area ? As I repeatedly
stressed in the course of the committee's lengthy investigation, Con-
gress should be informed with respect to the purposes of klans, the
manner in which they are organized, how they are controlled, their
strength and their scope, and the methods by which they seek to carry
out their objectives. This report includes the committee's findings on
all of these subjects.

The committee also offers some general conclusions regarding the
problems raised by klan activity, which I believe are inescapable when
the evidence is reviewed.

The facts set forth in this report are based on information acquired
by the committee through early 1967. The bulk of the evidence, how-
ever, is contained in the record of public investigative hearings con-

2 FOREWORD

duoted by a subcommittee of this o nittee ui the period between

Ocinlior'U), limn, and February 24. 1906. .The subcommittee sat for 36
days to interrogal e a total <>l I S7 witnesses regarding the evidence

which had been amassed by e< i iM.ee invesl igators. Thousands of

substantiating documents obtained by the committee staff were made
part of this hearing record.

Officers of the seven most active klan organizations, as well as rank-
and-file klansmen alleged to have engaged in organized terrorism,
were given an opportunity during the hearings to deny, qualify, con-
firm, or explain klan activity about which they possessed personal
knowledge. A majority chose to invoke constitutional privileges
against self-incrimination. Much productive testimony was never-
theless received from a number of present or former klan officers and
members, law enforcement officials, and private citizens who have been
victims of klan activity.

When the committee voted on March 30, 1965, to undertake a for-
mal investigation into ku klux klan organizations, it was concerned
about a substantial upsurge in klan membership and activity during
the preceding year. The klan movement had actually been on the up-
swing since 1961, but its growth prior to 1964 was slow and uneven,
and its activity pretty much localized.

The movement was still expanding when the committee began its
public hearings on the klans in the fall of 1965. Shortly there-
after, however, an abatement of klan activity was observed, due not
only to a customary seasonal decline, but also to a decision by many
klans to "lie low" while congressional hearings were in progress.
Klan membership also dropped during the winter months of 1965-
1966, a fact which I believe may be attributed at least in part to the facts
about the movement then being aired through the medium of the com-
mittee's hearings. Unfortunately, by the summer of 1966, klan activity
and membership were once more on the rise. Whereas the upsurge
in the early 1960's was viewed as a response to civil rights demonstra-
tions in the South, the latest gains appear to have been stimulated to
a great extent by riotous situations in northern cities.

The committee held legislative hearings on bills to curb klan-type
excesses in July of 1966 and subsequently reported H.R. 16606 with
amendments. I had introduced that bill, the "Organizational Conspir-
acies Act," in the hope that, if enacted, it would contribute significantly
toward eliminating, or at least curbing, terrorist activities of the type
engaged in by klans. Inasmuch as there was no action on the bill, I
have reintroduced it in the Ninetieth Congress in slightly amended
form. This bill, H.E. 7025, the "Organizational Conspiracies Act of
1967," was reported by the committee on September 19.

Whether or not my bill is enacted into law, it is my hope that the
evidence amassed by the committee will aid the Congress and also the
American people, who — in the final analysis — will determine if secret,
terroristic organizations can thrive in a democratic society.

Edwin E. Willis, Chairman.

of Texas

THE PRESENT-DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Present-day klan organizations customarily dedicate themselves to
commemorating the achievements of the Ku Klux Klan of the Recon-
struction era and to perpetuating the principles of the first phalanx of
nightriders to appear on the American scene.

Modern klans furthermore promise to save the Nation just as their
forerunners allegedly saved the Nation following the Civil War.

Some reference to historical antecedents is therefore essential to
understand the activities of klansmen in the 20th century.

The Reconstruction Klan

The six Confederate Army veterans credited with originating the
Ku Klux Klan on Christmas Eve of 1865 in "Pulaski, Tenn., are not
memorialized in "current klan literature. These young men had
adapted the Greek word for circle (kuklos) in christening their new
organization. They had devised mystical titles and a ritual for a
membership sworn to secrecy. And they were responsible for con-
verting bed linen into a means of disguise. Their purpose, however,
was reputedly pure amusement.

The organization to which modern klansmen pay homage was the
Ku Klux Klan headed by Nathan Bedford Forrest, which officially
operated in at least nine Southern States from 1867 to 1869 and
unofficially for some years thereafter.

Tho conversion of klan purposes from amusement to terrorism had
already been demonstrated by the time representatives of various local
klan "dens" held a unifying convention in Nashville, Tenn., in 1867
and elected former Confederate Army General Forrest as their grand
wizard. Stimulative of the klan's new purposes were a series of laws
. enacted by the U.S. Congress beginning in 1866 which sought to be-
stow civil rights on the recently freed slaves, and the Reconstruction
Act of March 1867 which substituted military governments for the
locally created governments in most of the former secessionist States.

"Maintenance of the supremacy of the white race" was selected as
the "main and fundamental objective" of the Ku Klux Klan led by
General Forrest. Membership was restricted to those who would op-
pose not only Negro "social and political equality" but also the Radicals
then dominant in the U.S. Congress who were to be defeated in order

I to "restore State sovereignty." A set of outwardly laudable aims

adopted by the organization called for support of the U.S. Constitu-
tion, assistance in execution of all constitutional laws, protection of
theweak and innocent, relief of the injured and oppressed, and suc-
coring of the unfortunate, especially widows and orphans. (The
same objectives have been repeated almost word for word by succeed-

4 THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

ing klan organizations up to the present time ; the exception being that
Radical is spelled with a small "r" in the contemporary situation.)
By the autumn of 1868, General Forrest estimated klan member-
ship at 550,000. Although he claimed to have disbanded the organiza-
tion early the following year on the grounds that it was no longer
needed for "self-protection," kil klux klan terrorism continued to
mount over the next few years to such a degree that the President and
Members of Congress demanded action to remedy the "insecurity of
life and property" in some of the Southern States.

The Congress acted against racial violence in three civil rights laws,
loosely known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts. Section 6 of an act of May
31, 1870, provided criminal penalties for persons who conspire or who
go in disguise on the public highways or on the premises of another
with intent to deprive him of rights and privileges granted by the
Constitution or laws of the United States. The voting safeguards set
forth in other sections of this act were amended and supplemented by
an act of February 28, 1871. Finally, on April 20, 1871, Congress
approved an act enforcing the provisions of the 14th amendment
which included, among other things, Presidential authority to use
military force to prevent interference with court civil rights orders. 1
As the President signed the third act directed against the Ku Klux
Klan, a joint congressional committee of 7 Senators and 14 Repre-
sentatives was organized to investigate the secret order. Formally
known as the Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the
Late Insurrectionary States, this investigating committee held 57 days
of hearings in Washington, D.C., in addition to sending subcommittees
to take testimony in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, and Mississippi. Although Grand Wizard Forrest refused
to cooperate with the committee — even refusing to admit membership
in or firsthand knowledge of a ku klux klan — testimony taken by the
committee provided a grisly record of violence engaged in by the
masked bands.

A RECORD OF VIOLENCE

Killings and floggings of Negroes and whites, the burning of schools
and churches, and the hounding of individuals from their communities
are among the outrages recorded in 12 printed volumes of the commit-
tee's hearings. A maj ority report issued by the committee on February
19, 1872, described the Ku Klux Klan as "a fearful conspiracy against
society, committing atrocities and crimes that richly deserve punish-
ment." The report also accused the klan of demoralizing society and
holding men silent by the terror of its acts and its powers for evil.
Continuance of the special powers granted to the President by the Ku
Klux Klan Act of April 30, 1871, was recommended. A minority re-
port, which took issue with the majority as to the causes, purpose, and
scope of klan activity, nevertheless declared —

* * * we do not intend to deny that bodies of disguised men have, in several
of the States of the South, been guilty of the most flagrant crimes, crimes which
we neither seek to palliate nor excuse * * *.

'Those :ire the only laws specifically directed nonius! the ku klux Ulan ever enacted by
Congress, liiiio remains <>r this Reconstruction era legislation. Among the few survivors

IS Hie section dealing wllli private racial violence which Is now Contained In title 18.

ITnltOd Stales Code, til section 241, Iteoenl I'Ydoral pi-iiscctilhui of u n her of Idan i

under (Ids seel inn of the code IS discussed In < 'ha pier VIII.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT 5

Historians have suggested a combination of reasons for the eventual
decline of the Ku Klux Klan of the Reconstruction period : (1) growth
of public sentiment in the South against activities of masked terror-
ists; (2) State, and even more particularly Federal legislation, under
which martial law was declared and hundreds of alleged klansmen ar-
rested in one State; and (3) so-called changed historical conditions
which included the gradual restoration of segregation-oriented State
governments. The last factor was one of the bases for klan claims in
later years that the post-Civil War klan had achieved its objectives
and "saved the South" (or the entire "Nation" as modern klan leaders
prefer to put it.)

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 1915-44

In 1915 the klan was exhumed by "Colonel" William Joseph Sim-
mons, a native of Alabama who had previously been engaged in solicit-
ing members for fraternal organizations for a fee.

The spirit of fraternalism was so shrewdly exploited by the new
klan organization that millions of members were enrolled in almost
every State of the Union before it declined and eventually dissolved
LJn 1944.

As Simmons explained to the House Committee on Rules inquiring
into the revived klan, his decision to launch an organization known
as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was put into effect in October
1915 at a meeting (in Atlanta, Ga.) attended by 34 residents of the
State of Georgia. A charter signed by the secretary of state of
Georgia was issued in December, and another charter was granted by
the Superior Court of Fulton County, Ga., on July 1, 1916, for what
purported to be a purely benevolent and charitable operation.
r-"^ After "resurrecting" the klan, Simmons admittedly proceeded to
yj^reconstruct" and "remodel" the organization. 2

The organizational structure of the new Knights — involving an auto-
cratic hierarchy of officials on national, State, "province" and local
levels — was borrowed from the Reconstruction klan. "The govern-
ment of this order shall ever be military in character, especially in its
executive management and control," asserted the constitution of Sim-
mons' klan. Simmons' authority as the imperial wizard, he told con-
gressional investigators, could be compared with that of a general in
an army.

Simmons did, however, select new titles for most of the klan of-
ficialdom. He also prescribed rules for the functioning of the orga-
nization on its various levels and an elaborate ritual to be followed at
local klan meetings and initiations. These were published and pro-
tected by copyright. These rules and ritual, together with a lengthy
new oath swearing klansmen to obedience and secrecy, are being used
today with only minor modifications by such organizations as the
United Klans of America, Inc., and the National Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan, Inc. 3

The first klan organization of the 20th century vowed that it would
commemorate the "service" and "achievement" of the Ku Klux Klan of

8 The changes were reflected in "Constitution and Laws of the Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan (Incorporated)." copyright 1021 by the Knights of the KKK. Inc., Atlanta Ga

■ One of the exceptions is the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi, whose
operations will he discussed in subsequent sections of this report.

(■»

TUN IMtl'JMKNT DAY K U KI,U\ KLAN MOVKMKNT

i ii«' Reoonstruoticm period Mid perpetuate its ideals. A booklet,
"Ideals of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," spelled out the racial
ideals svhioh wen- inherited i

This la wiiiic Man's organisation, exalting the Caucasian Race and teaching
the doctrine of White Supremacy. + * + All of Christian Civilization depends
upon the preservation and upbuilding of the White Race * * *.

Any effort to permit "blacks or any other color" to share in the
control of this "White Man's Republic" would constitute "an invasion
of our sacred constitutional prerogatives and a violation of divinely
established laws," the booklet further declared.

PATRIOTISM AND PROFIT

A number of additional objectives were introduced by the Simmons'
klan in an effort to broaden the klan's appeal. Thus, the klan's consti-
tion and laws listed as its No. 1 purpose the cultivation and promotion
of patriotism. Recruiting literature issued by the organization in
1917 described the klan's "paramount feature" as "active, pure patri-
otism," and declared it was proud to carry on the traditions of its 19th
century forebears because the latter were "paragons of patriotism."
Simmons gave secondary emphasis to the charity allegedly dispensed
by the klan ; in third spot was its provision for "real fraternity" in
which "mystery and action" would be combined with "wholesome
mirth." 4

The so-called patriotism of the klan was allegedly expressed by its
uncompromising defense of "a, pnrp. A m^ri nanism, rmt.rnrnrnp.1p d by
alien influences." Alien influences from which the Republic was to
be protectecfwere expanded by the revived klan to include not only the
"inferior colored races" but also the Roman Catholic, Jewish, and for-
eign-bom minorities within the United States.

Another new feature of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was its
commercialism. Simmons advertised his Knights as an organization
"founded and operated by consecrated business brains." His office of
imperial wizard was guaranteed revenue from a percentage of initia-
tion fees (klectokons) ; a monthly per capita tax on the membership
(imperial tax) ; and profits from the sale of robes and other regalia,
jewelry, stationery, etc. Initiation fees were described as "donations"
and not reportable as taxable income in the event anyone questioned
the right of the klan to tax exemption as a fraternal and charitable
organization.

The services of professional publicists, Edward Young Clarke and
Elizabeth Tyler, in the period 1920-23 reputedly helped propel the
Knights into a nationwide role. High-powered publicity represented
theklan as having an answer to both real and imaginary problems of
society,, as teams of professional organizers fanned out into Northern
and Western States as well as the South. (Clarke's organizing depart-
ment was rewarded with 80 percent of each $10 initiation fee.) Sim-
mons told the House Committee on Rules that within 16 months after

/"The ABC of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," leaflet copyrighted 1917 by W. J.
Simmons, Atlanta, Ga. The same three purposes— patriotism, benevolence and fraternity —
are listed in the same order of priority in recruiting literature currently being circulated
by the largest of the existing klan organizations, the United Klans of America, Inc. See
tt 7* Introduction to the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan." a leaflet with the Imprint of the
united Klans of America, Inc., Suite 401, Alston Bldg., Tuscaloosa, Ala

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT 7

he enlisted the services of Clarke and Tyler, klan membership in-
creased from 5,000 to almost 100,000.

The House committee questioned the imperial wizard during 3
days of public hearings on the ku klux klan in October 1921. The com-
mittee lacked authority to administer oaths and its hearings predated
by several years the peak of klan strength in the United States. In
addition to hearing Members of Congress who had introduced resolu-
tions against the KKK, the committee received an account of investi-
gations conducted by staff members of the N.Y. World, and by a U.S.
postal inspector, and heard contradictory accounts of the klan pur-
poses from Imperial Wizard Simmons and one of his kleagles (or-
fanizers) who had defected. Charges by the other witnesses that the
Ian was making "millions" out of spreading racial and religious
hatred and being credited with acts of violence in many States were
blandly denied by the imperial wizard.

THE KLAN AS A NATIONAL OPERATION

By 1924, the Knights activity had extended to the four corners of
the Nation. States such as Maine, Oregon, and California housed
units of the hooded order, which attained an overall membership of
between 3 million and 5 million. While historians differ on total mem-
bership, they agree that the jklan r olls were larger. in, certain Northern
States (Indiana and Ohio for example) than in any State south of
the Mason-Dixon line.

Activities of the Knights varied from State to State, and within
various counties of the same State. Murders committed by hooded
bands were reported in some areas in the early 1920's, while in other
areas the klan's public image was confined to ceremonial parades and
rallies with the distinctive burning of a wooden cross, and intense
"politicking." Dynamitings and bombings were also reported, but
the most common form of violence attributed to the modern klan was
kidnaping of persons who were then flogged and/or tarred and
feathered.

Although victims did include Negroes attempting to register other
Negroes to vote, historians have observed that many of the persons
singled out for punishment by the hooded order were men and women
of white Protestant stock allegedly guilt of violating some "moral"
law. Repeated incidents are cited of the flogging of persons because
they allegedly gambled, dealt in liquor, peddled dope, or deserted a
spouse.

-Among the more "refined" forms of intimidation practiced by the
modern klan were boycotts ofJausinesses owned by Catholics or Jews,
and campaigns to oust Roman Catholic public school teachers and per-
sons of Catholic or Jewish faiths holding elected positions. Mean-
while, klansmen entered politics and used the labels of both major
political parties to put klansmen in local sheriff and police depart-
ments, courts, and State legislatures. Klansmen allegedly served as
Governors in three States, as attorney general for another State, in
addition to obtaining seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Repre-
senatives before the klan's fortunes declined in the last half of the
1920's.

In. the mid-1920's, a number of States had adopted antimask laws
in an effort to curb klan violence ; one State also introduced laws mak-

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

ing even threats by a masked person a felony, and requiring a regis-
tration of klan membership. Convictions for vigilante activity became
more frequent than acquittals in some areas. Meanwhile, klan leader-
ship was engaged in internal struggles over power and division of
rich financial rewards (Colonel Simmons himself had been ousted from
the wizardship by a Texan, Hiram Wesley Evans, in a power play
in November 1922). The publicity given to the venality and im-
morality of certain klan leaders was costly in terms of membership.
By 1928, the invisible empire was estimated to have shrunk to 200,000
or 300,000 members.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ANTICOMMUNISM

During the 1930's the greatly reduced empire of the Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan picked up an additional alleged purpose— opposition
; to communism. By June 1939, when James A. Colescott of Indiana
succeeded Evans in the office of imperial wizard, a "primary" aim of
the Knights was "mopping up the cesspools of communism in the
United States."

In actuality, the Knights introduced a practice — continued by klans-
men to the present day — of exploiting American antipathy to a totali-
tarian system of government in order to advance the Man's basic
objectives directed against certain American minority groups. This
conclusion" is inescapable in view of the misdirection of much of
the klan's fight against communism. Klan propagandists, for ex-
ample, issued warnings to the effect that Communists advocated racial
equality. ^The National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, then conducting voter registration drives, was unjustly ac-
cused by the klan of being a Communist organization, and the public
was told to beware of the Congress of Industrial Organizations on the
grounds that the CIO was "teaching and practicing communism" by
trying to place white workers on a level with the NegroesTTKlan dis-
tortions and falsifications of Communist problems can benanderstood
only in the context of the klan's avowed program of opposition to
registration of Negro voters, appointment of Negroes to "any official
capacity in connection with government affairs," and other threats to
"white supremacy."

Jews and aliens were also attacked on new grounds of alleged ties
with the Communist Party. Only Catholics were credited by the klan
with having their own conspiracy, independent of Moscow, to '^c apture
the Government of the United States," and "destroy America."
"The Knights' position was spelled out in its official publication, The
Fiery Gross, and other klan documents supplied to the Special Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities by Imperial Wizard Colescott dur-
ing a third congressional inquiry into the klan.

Colescott appeared before the Special Committee on Un-American
Activities on January 26, 1942. The special committee had been
receiving sporadic testimony regarding ku klux klan activities since
1938 when it included the klan in a broad investigation into "Nazi,
Fascist, and antiracial" organizations. 5 The testimony had been

■ The ipeoloJ <• mlttee had reported that although only im ( the antiracial orjjanlsta

iiiinii wric tinged with Nii7,i or fntclitlo activity, they fell wliiiin the committee'! purview

i auto advocacy <h' racial nmi rollgloui hatred wai a* "un Amorlcan" ai n<i\ aoy of olftM

hatred (H, Etepi 9, Jan, 8, 1080, p 10 I

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

largely confined to alleged cooperation between klansmen and Nazi
elements in such areas as Los Angeles, Michigan, New York, and New
Jersey. A rally of the Knights held at the German-American Bund's
Camp Nordland in New Jersey in August 1940 — which puLklansmen
and^pro-Nazis on the same speaker's platform— drew~principal atten-
tion in the committee's hearings. Colescott subsequently disavowed
the rally which he had initially authorized. In defending his organi-
zation before the special House committee, Colescott produced klan
literature demonstrating that Nazism and fascism were among the
foreign "isms" officially opposed by the klan.

During the 1930's and early 1940's the press had continued to report
cases of kidnapings and floggings by klansmen— although much more
sporadically than in the preceding decade. For example, a series of
approximately 30 floggings in the suburbs of Atlanta, Ga., culminated
in March 1940 in a fatal whipping and a grand jury investigation.
Nine klansmen were subsequently convicted on charges involving kid-
naping and flogging. Following a line taken by earlier Wizards
Forrest and Simmons, Colescott told the House investigating com-
mittee in 1942 that terrorism was contrary to klan principles. Klans-
men found guilty in the aforementioned Atlanta flogging case were
banished from the klan, Colescott maintained.

In view of the continuous terrorism practiced by members of klan
organizations, such disavowals of violent intentions on the part of
klan leaders are no more credible than Imperial Wizard Colescott's
testimony that the Knights had "no fight with any minority group."

Unwilling to divulge the exact strength of the klan, Colescott never-
theless admitted that by 1942 the Knights had "very few paid-up mem-
bers" ; that the strongest realm had shifted from the North to the State
of Florida; and that the national treasury had received less than
$10,000 in dues and initiation fees during the previous year. From his
testimony, it was apparent that the invisible empire had dwindled to
legs than 10,000 members by World War II.

The organization known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.,

I "officially" dissolved itself at an imperial klonvokation (national con -

../ vention) held in Atlanta, Ga., on April 23, 1944, after the U.S. Bureau

of Internal Kevenue filed a lien for $685,305 in back taxes which the

Knights presumably should have paid during its days of greatest

financial success.

Localized Klan Operations, 1944-60

Klansmen were relatively quiescent throughout World War II. Dr.
Samuel Green, an obstetrician who was head of the Atlanta klavern of
the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan until its formal dissolution in the
spring of 1944, had attempted to keep the klan alive as a "local"
project. He assumed the title of grand dragon of an Association of
Georgia Klans organized on May 21, 1944. It was not until October
1945, however, that his organization emerged into public view with
what was heralded as the first public cross-burning since Pearl Harbor.

Klan activity had been continued in Florida by a Miami unit. In
September 1944, a Ku Klux Klan of Florida, Inc., was chartered.

in September 1946, incorporation papers were filed by a new Ala-
bama organizai ion known as the Federated Ku Klux Klans, Inc.

Tllli: IMIKHMNT DAY Kll Kl.llX KI.AN MOVKMIONT

When Dr, Green sought in Mm spring of 1046 to make use of the
Georgia charter of Hie old Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Man
Leader was blocked by a oharter revocation suit instituted by the State
of Georgia and by a lien tor back taxes filed by the Internal Eevenue
Bureau. Dr. Green thereupon proceeded to extend the operations of
his unchartered Association of Georgia Klans into the additional
States of Tennessee, the Carolinas, Alabama, and Florida.

The U.S. Department of Justice was already investigating the re-
vival of klan operations in seven States by the spring of 1946. In-
cluded were the States of California and New York, which shortly
thereafter revoked the klan charters in order to block further activity
in those areas.

Among complaints admittedly under investigation by the Justice
Department were attempts by masked bands in Georgia to prevent
Negroes from voting. From California in 1946 had come reports of
the burning of a fiery cross in front of the store of a Catholic
merchant. In Tennessee, a Jewish proprietor closed up shop after an
intimidating klan cross-burning. In Georgia and Florida, complaints
were received that Negroes were beaten or threatened with violence for
engaging in union activity. Floggings of whites and Negroes by hood-
ed night riders, who frequently charged their victims with some alleged
"moral" offense, were reported periodically in the States of Georgia,
Tennessee, and Florida throughout the years 1946-49. 6

The decade ended with almost simultaneous outbursts of klan vio-
lence in four States. Violence in Florida during the spring and sum-
mer of 1949 included arson against both Negro and white homes, in
addition to the usual flogging. Klansmen in Tennessee at the same
time were reportedly responsible for a series of lashings, invasions of
churches, and armed intimidations. In northwest Georgia, in April, a
sheriff turned seven Negroes over to klansmen for flogging. Most
publicized of the klan outrages were a series of terroristic acts, includ-
ing kidnapings and floggings, which occurred in the counties around
Birmingham, Ala., beginning in the spring of 1949. A subcommittee
of the House Judiciary Committee, conducting hearings on civil rights
proposals, interrogated several Birmingham area newsmen who had
interviewed men and women threatened with violence or beaten by
men in klan regalia. Most of these victims were white persons
charged by the klan with offenses such as nonsupport of family,
whiskey selling, etc. 7

; By mid- August 1949, a fatal heart attack had deprived the Associa-
tion of Georgia Klans of its grand dragon. The organization declined
rapidly thereafter, as new klans and leaders began emerging in various
States. A splinter Original Southern Klans, Inc., had been created in
southern Georgia in 1948. In 1949, Florida klan leader Bill Hendrix
introduced his Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. A Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan was formed in Alabama that same year to com-
pete with the Federated KKK. It was the creation of an Association

« A Federal grand jury report of Mar. 25, 1953, to the fudges of the U.S. District Court
SLftf^W?™ D ! Sti ; i ^ °*. F l0 J ia& - Miaml Division, described floorings which hnd been
allv everv vll n ?^ tr £L^ l0I 11 a b 7 m * m %™ of a "saaiitic and brutal ku klux klan." yirtu-
tfiLfiE&tFI?* S Ce 1943 - ,T he jury sa!d {t was reporting only those incidents which were
admitted to by one or more klansmen.

sess Ju 29*1949 Subcommittee No - 3 of House Judiciary Committee, 8lst Cong . 1st

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAJST MOVEMENT

of Carolina Klans in 1949, however, that set the stage for the most
notable instance of klan terrorism in the early 1950's.

The Association of Carolina Klans under Grand Dragon Thomas
Hamilton was credited with a 2-year wave of violence in North Caro-
lina and South Carolina beginning in 1950. The violence and the klan
itself were finally extinguished in 1952 when a number of klansmen
were convicted in Federal court on charges of crossing State lines for
kidnaping and flogging purposes and when the State of North Caro-
lina undertook mass prosecution of floggers. The grand dragon was
also jailed after pleading guilty to a State charge involving the beat-
ing of a Negro farm woman.

Eeports from Florida and Georgia indicated that klansmen there
were also continuing to assault and flog during the early 1950's. By
the time Hamilton was convicted in North Carolina, however, most of
the klan organizations which had sprung up in the 1940's were either
extinct, or dormant, 8 and relatively little activity was reported for the
next few years. The next resurgence of the night-riding fraternity —
generally attributed to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision of May
IT, 1954, on public school segregation-^was destined to be directed
by a new array of wizards and dragons and a new set of klan
organizations.

THE KLAN UPSURGE AFTER 1954

The most successful klan operation of the late 1950's was master-
minded by a paint sprayer employed in an Atlanta auto factory, Eldon
Lee Edwards.

Edwards actually quietly organized his klan in 1953. In Sep-
tember of that year, he published and copyrighted a slightly
revised version of klan ritual which had been written by Simmons
for the old Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Edwards then used
the organizational title, U.S. Klans of Georgia, Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan. It was not until the autumn of 1954, however, that
Edwards began openly recruiting through the usual public rallies and
cross burnings. His organizers were soon spreading out into such
States as Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Texas.

Exploiting the Supreme Court decision of May 1954, Edwards pro-
claimed that the "white supremacy" objectives 'of his klan included
"maintaining segregated schools at any and all cost." His printing
presses ground out the traditional "hate" literature not only against
Negroes but also against Jews, Catholics, and "foreigners."

On October 24, 1955, Edwards obtained a charter from the State
of Georgia to do business as an alleged "social and charitable" enter-
prise. Keflecting his proclaimed conviction that times were ripe for
a national klan, the title of the incorporated organization was altered
to U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.

This committee found no evidence that the U.S. Klans actually
managed to organize branches in more than nine States. Early or-
ganizational efforts in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee,
and Texas were later supplemented by forays into Florida, North
Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas. Evidence that these efforts were at

„.?, An e: L ce E t '0S was th e Association of Florida Ku Klux Klan, which was organized by
William J. Griffin, of Tampa, in July 1953 and was disbanded by him in August 1955.

98-136 O—

THE PRESENT DAY KU KX.TJX KLAN MOVEMENT

least financially rewarding was provided by Imperial Wizard Ed-
wards' announcement in November 1958 that land bad been purchased
in Atlanta for the erection of an "imperial palace" for the U.S. Klans.

More than a score of smaller klans emerged in the late fifties to
compete with the U.S. Klans in exploiting issues and fears raised by
the decision of the Supreme Court. Many of the groups had splin-
tered off from the larger organization led by Edwards. William
Hendrix, Florida wizard, who had revived his Southern Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan at this time, described klan operations in the 1950's
as "a conglomeration of different organizations breaking up, going
together, and not getting along." 8

Among the independent klans competing with the Florida branch
of the U.S. Klans— in addition to Hendrix's Knights— was the Florida
Ku Klux Klan, which had been organized in 1955. In Louisiana, a
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was incorporated in 1956. Several years
later an Original Ku Klux Klan under Imperial Wizard Koy E. Davis
of Dallas, Texas, was recruiting in Texas and neighboring Arkansas.
Texas was also the headquarters for an Aryan Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan, while Arkansas produced such additional local orders as the
Association of Arkansas Klans.

In Alabama, segments of the U.S. Klans withdrew in the fall of
1956 to form a Gulf Ku Klux Klan and a Ku Klux Klan of the Con-
federacy. They were displaced the following year by the Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy, the Association of Alabama
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, Inc.
In 1959, William Hugh Morris revived his Federated Ku Klux Klans,
which had units in Georgia as well as in Alabama. The Association
of Alabama Knights established klaverns in the State of Mississippi,
which in 1957 broke away to form an Independent Mississippi Klan,

The Association of South Carolina Klans was organized in the
autumn of 1955. During the next few years additional organizations
emerged in South Carolina under such titles as South Carolina
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc ; National Ku Klux Klan ; Inde-
pendent Knights of the Ku Klux Klan ; and Palmetto Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan. To the north, Edwards' organization faced the rival
North Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, created in 1956, and
the National Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, formed in
North Carolina the following year. Chattanooga, Tenn., was the
home of the Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which had
been organized by former members of a Chattanooga klavern of the
U.S. Klans and received incorporation papers in October 1957. The
Dixie Klans organized in Georgia and Alabama, as well as in
Tennessee.

J. B. STONER, THE KLANS AND THE NATIONAL STATES RIGHTS PARTY

A Georgian reared in Tennessee was responsible for the most pub-
licized, albeit least successful, challenge to Edwards' dominating role
in klan affairs of the late fifties, Jesse Benjamin (J. B.) Stoner had
been a klan organizer (kleaele) in Tennessee during the 1940's. He
was also the founder in MM 5 of the Sinner Anti Jewish Party, later

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

"WUHmiii llniilrU t<'iillllr<! .lily '.'(I, I1MI5, In nil oxcciil lv<- tlMrlng "I thll COfflOtlttoe.

known as the Christian Anti-Jewish Party. Stoner's extreme anti-
Semitism— typified by his public advocacy of physical annihilation
of "non- Christian Jews" — had led to his expulsion from the Associ-
ated Klans of America in January 1950.

In the summer of 1959, Stoner assumed the role of imperial wizard
of a new Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, with headquarters
in Louisville, Ky. Within a few months, Stoner was publicly accus-
ing the U.S. Klans of being a "Jew-dominated organization." Im-
perial Wizard Edwards retaliated by claiming to possess evidence that
the Christian Knights advocated violence. During the following
year, Stoner moved his headquarters to Atlanta, but his efforts- from
Edwards' stronghold fared so poorly that the Christian Knights was
reduced to a paper organization in 1961.

Since 1959, Imperial Wizard Stoner had been contributing his
talents to another extremist organization where his efforts were to
prove more rewarding. This was the National States Eights Party,
m which Stoner was officially installed as national vice chairman in
1964, in addition to being selected as the party's vice presidential
candidate in the national elections of that year.

The National States Eights Party was organized in 1958 as an
avowed "white racist political party." Unlike most klans, it admitted
Catholic and foreign-born members provided they accepted the Na-
tional States Eights Party program which called for shipping all
Negroes to Africa, and deporting all Jews to an "isolated island."
The National States Eights Party has gained considerable notoriety
in recent years as a forum for inflammatory speeches against
Negroes." A former klansman who was also active in the National
States Eights Party shortly after its formation reported that the party
attracted members apparently obsessed with hatred for Jews and that
synagogues were among the targets of possible acts of violence dis-
cussed at secret National States Eights Party conclaves.

A dominant figure in the National States Eights Party is a chiro-
practor, Dr. Edward E. Fields, who presently holds the title of direc-
tor. Originally headquartered in Jeffersonville, Ind., the organization
moved its national office to Birmingham, Ala., in 1960. A third move,
to Augusta, Ga., in the summer of- 1965, found the National States
Eights Party operating out of "joint offices" with J. B. Stoner, then
billed as the National States Eights Party general counsel. The Na-
tional States Eights Party's organizing drives have extended as far
as California and Oregon in the West and New York State in the
Northeast.

This committee's investigations into ku klux klan organizations re-
vealed that the National States Eights Party has had both a cooper-
ative and competitive relationship with the klans. The committee has
received testimony regarding surreptitious efforts by the National
States Eights Party soon after its formation to infiltrate and take over
klan units. Nevertheless, officers and members of klan organizations
often simultaneously hold office or membership in the National States

tn " A }L! n NBRP rally in Anniston, Ala., Oct. 20, 1964, J. B. Stoner's appeal to white persons

MiSni %t N^n et „ S H a .^. C0Un , ter Clv ^ rlghts demonstrations was spiced with Tuch remark!
ngulnst the Negro as "the only good ones are dead ones." The ''kill the Netrro" refrain

?his n repo e rt. SPe ° n ^ NSRP ClrCUlt ' C ° nnIe Lynoh * iB d«Sibed in wot^Bectton S

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN" MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Rights Party without apparent conflict. 11 Joint klan-National States
Rights Party rallies and an exchange of speakers have long been com-
monplace. The National States Rights Party's public position with
respect to klans was presented by Director Fields at a United Klans
rally in Anniston, Ala,, May 9, 1965. "We look forward to even
greater rallies and future cooperation with our fellow white fighters
in the ku klux klan," Fields declared from the speaker's podium.
Fields then marched in a klan parade which followed the rally and
for which the Fields' organization had supplied parade signs and
Confederate flags.

TERRORISM WITH INCREASING RELIANCE ON DYNAMITE

Numerous acts of violence involving racial issues occurred in various
States of the South in the late 1950's. Klansmen participated in the
terrorism, but it would be unreasonable to blame all or even most of
the reprehensible deeds on members of the hooded fraternities. Diffi-
culties in detecting, much less prosecuting, those responsible have fore-
stalled any accurate assessment of the klan role in this violence.

Problems of detection have been aggravated by the increasing use of
dynamite as an instrument of terror during this decade. A Federal
grand jury which investigated bombings of a Negro housing project
and the bomb deaths of NAACP leader Harry T. Moore and his wife
in Florida in 1951 failed to identify the culprits, but had much to say
against the growing use of explosives, which were easily acquired, and
"destroy clues along with life and property."

This committee has received information indicating klan involve-
ment in the violence that erupted in Montgomery, Ala., after a year-
long Negro bus boycott and a round of court decisions culminated in
the desegregation of the city's buses in December 1956. Violence had
taken the form of beatings and sniper fire into buses in December.
During the following month, four Negro Baptist churches and the
homes of three bus boycott leaders were bombed. Members of the
U.S. Klans were among those subsequently charged with complicity in
the bombings. After two defendants were acquitted by a jury, how-
ever, the State dismissed charges against the remaining defendants. _

The U.S. Klans imperial wizard had consistently proclaimed his
klan to be a law-abiding organization. There is evidence that his posi-
tion served as a restraint within certain realms under his command.
There is also substantiation for Edwards' charge that certain acts of
violence were the work of some of the many splinter klans operating

""King Kleagles" William Hoffi and Frank Rotella, Jr., headed United Klans operations
in New York and New Jersey respectively late in 1965. Eac^h concurrently served as
director of the NSRP in his State. Eloise Witte, "empress" of the National Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan of Ohio in 1965, at the same time presided over the Cincinnati chapter of the
NSRP. In Jacksonville, Fla., during the same year, Willie Eugene Wilson had the dual role
of exalted cyclops of a Haver n of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan and director of the

DU o\ a he C rTn n dVvffl" l ac«v^ ?n Cfthe klan and NSRP settled for ^dership functions in
one of the organizations. In contrast to J. B. Stoner who abandoned a klan wardship for
national NSRP office Rov K. Frankhouser gradun+ed from an organizer in the NSRP to
l" gr nd drago of the Pennsylvania Realm of the United Klans. Prior to his elevation
t kle.glc and then national "klndd" (conductor) of the United Klans during 1964, Robert
io. Hudgins had been attending national meetings of the nsi IP, w Hu<toin 8 back .in 1858, had
been associated with both the NSRP and a klan known as the North Carolina Knights <>i

th Tb5 K committee Interrogn In public hearings the afoMmentlonea Blnlse Wltte, Willie

Rugene Wilson, J, it. Stoner, Roy franku ser, and. Robert Hudgins. w in the i / '

of Mr:i. wnir. io witness uniformly responded to questions by Invoking the mm ana

othor constitutional amendments,

m the same period. The dynamiting of a home in North Carolina in
1959, for example, was the work of a splinter from the U.S. Klans,
according to evidence obtained by the committee. The perpetrators of
this crime— who in this instance received prison sentences — were mem-
bers of the Chessmen, an organization active in the Carolinas in the
late fifties. The black shirts and masks sported by these klansmen
earned them the nickname, Black Shirts. The attempted dynamiting
of a Negro school near Charlotte, N.C., in February 1958 resulted in
prison sentences for the grand wizard of the National Christian
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and two of his henchmen. 12

One of the most brutal displays of violence of the decade was car-
ried out by members of a splinter from the Alabama section of the
U.S. Klans, operating as the Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy. A
Birmingham Negro was abducted in September 1957 and sexually
mutilated in a klan headquarters ceremony aimed at testing the
mettle of one of the klansmen. Six Confederate Knights were subse-
quently tried and convicted in this case.

Among floggings reported in this period was one administered in
October 1956 by a mob led by members of the Florida Ku Klux Klan.
The mob had raided a Wildwood, Fla., jail in order to "punish" a
Negro who had requested confinement for his own protection. In
December of the same year, members of a Camden, S.C., klan group
which had split off from the Association of South Carolina Klans were
involved in the flogging of a local high school teacher for alleged pro-
integrationist remarks. Seven months later, the exalted cyclops of a
Greenville, S.C., klavern of the Association of South Carolina Klans
was part of a contingent of klansmen which flogged a local Negro who
had been caring for several white youngsters while the father visited
the mother in a city hospial. Prison sentences were meted out to the
exalted cyclops and several of his colleagues in the last-named incident.

Klansmen continued to burn crosses before homes, schools, and
churches from North Carolina to Alabama to register the klan's dis-
approval on issues involving race and personal morality. An ap-
parent innovation in klan terror tactics was observed in Richfield,
N.C., in the spring of 1959. Members of the Chessmen registered their
objection to the hiring of Negroes at a sawmill by putting sand and
sugar in the gas tank of an expensive engine at the mill.

Klansmen Regroup for a New Offensive in the 1960's

There had been a marked decrease in klan activity — overt and
covert — as the decade of the fifties drew to a close. However, the
spread of civil rights demonstrations, such as the lunch counter "sit-
ins" of 1960 and the "freedom" bus rides of 1961 throughout the South,
provided a stimulus for another klan resurgence.

This latest klan offensive is being conducted for the most part by
a new array of klan organizations. Of the more than a score of klans
organized during the late fifties, approximately eight continued ac-
tive as late as 1961 and only half of the eight functioned at the time
of this committee's investigations and hearings into klan activity in
1965. They are the U.S. Klans, the Association of South Carolina

'"I'll,- bombing of an Atlanta synagogue in October 1A5R brought members of the newlv
formed National 'States Rights Party before the courts, but the defendants were acquitted
on grounds of in.Huiiirioiii evidence.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Klans, the Dixie Knights, and the Association of Arkansas Klans,
whose current, severely circumscribed operations will be discussed in
the following chapter.

A reorganization within the invisible empire had been precipitated
by the death in August 1960 of the imperial wizard of the U.S. Klans.
A special convention of what was then the largest and oldest klan
selected Georgia Grand Dragon Robert L. "Wild Bill" Davidson to
succeed the late Imperial Wizard Eldon Edwards. Edwards' widow
had backed the runner-up in the election and would not accept defeat.
During the internal wrangling which followed, Mrs. Edwards' de-
feated candidate, Rev. E. E. George, circulated complaints that David-
son was not providing sufficient financial compensation to Mrs. Ed-
wards. The Davidson camp, which included the new Georgia Grand
Dragon Calvin Craig, responded that the klan treasury was empty
when Davidson took over and that Edwards and his widow had used
the U.S. Klans for personal gain. The Davidson group cited as evi-
dence Mrs. Edwards' resort to legal action which resulted in a court
declaration that approximately $40,000 in klan real estate, as well as
the copyrighted Kloran (book of klan ritual) and klan constitution,
belonged to Edwards' personal estate.

At a klan rally in an Atlanta hotel in November 1960, Imperial
Wizard Davidson boldly declared that klansmen would use buck-
shot if necessary to fight integration. Davidson was unable to en-
dure the battle then raging within his own klan organization, how-
ever. His resignation was announced in February 1961, and the
Reverend George promptly assumed the title of imperial wizard.

George's victory was a hollow one. The death of Edwards and the
ensuing dissension had prepared most of the membership of the U.S.
Klans to follow other leaders in newer and more dynamic klan
organizations.

CHAPTER II. ORGANIZATIONS COMPRISING THE
MODERN KLAN MOVEMENT

The fluidity which has characterized the klan movement since the
breakup of Simmons' monolithic invisible empire in 1944 has contin-
ued to the present day.

During the reign of Simmons and his successors, to be a klansman
meant membership in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Today a
klansman may be enrolled in any one of morejhan 15 different klan
organizations in the United States.

The constant organization and disbandment of klans could still be ob-
served during 1966. .Although all such groups cling to similar white
supremacist objectives, no one klan leader has emerged since 1944 with
the ability to bring all klansmen together in a single organization A
number of reasons may be advanced for this multiplicity of klans.

Klan leaders seem to be in perpetual disagreement over the disposi-
tion of funds which begin flowing into klan coffers with the collection
of the klansman's initiation fee. The rivalry among present-day klan
eaders for their "fair share" of the financial rewards accruing from
klan operations was demonstrated in the testimony and documenta-
tion introduced during the committee's public hearings on ku klux
klan organizations in the winter of 1965-66.

An equally important factor in the splintering of klans has been
the aspirations for power and authority on the part of erstwhile klan
leaders. Disputes over the privilege of commanding a hierarchy of
lower officers and an army of rank-and-file klansmen have proved
irreconcilable.

When klan leaders publicly insist that their own organization is the
only true descendant of the Simmons' klan and argue with other klan
officers over "territorial" jurisdiction, it is apparent that they are at-
tempting to disguise more basic differences involving money, power,
or a third common cause of dissension— the tactical line to be taken
by a klan in exploiting current issues.

The history of the movement since 1944 shows that klan groups
have little disagreement over the issues they exploit for their own
growth and enrichment. Judical edicts and legislative enactments
promoting constitutional rights, as well as the activities of private
groups and individuals with similar objectives, have been seized upon
by klan leaders as "issues" on which to campaign and grow. Klan
resurgence as a reaction to the Supreme Court decision in 1954 on the
subject of public school segregation has already been noted. Ten
years later, klan leaders were similarly exploiting and thriving on is-
sues arising from the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Contributing to continued divisions within the klan movement, how-
ever, was the failure of klan leaders to agree on a common course of
action in response to klan-selected issues. The determination of
courses of action inevitably involved decisions with respect to the de-

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

gree of militancy a klan group should display in its public or covert
activity.

At the conclusion of the committee's public hearings on klan or-
ganizations in February 1966, 15 independent Mans were in existence.
They possessed in common certain ritualistic ceremonies, robes, and
variations on the oath and constitution of the Simmons' Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan. But they operated under separate sets of leaders
and exhibited different degrees of militancy in their modus operandi.
They also varied greatly in size and influence.

All but two of the 15 organizations have been active less than 10
years. The two exceptions — the U.S. Klans and Association of South
Carolina Klans — have dwindled to relatively minor positions in the
klan movement.
The 15 klans active in the United States early in 1966 were—

Association of Arkansas Klans;

Association of Georgia Klans;

Association of South Carolina Klans;

Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.;

Improved Order of the U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan, Inc.;

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Florida) ;

Militant Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Florida) ;

Mississippi Knights of the Ku Klux Klan;

National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. ;

Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Louisiana) ;

U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.;

United Florida Ku Klux Klan;

United Klans of America, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. ;

United Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Florida) ; and the

White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Mississippi).
It should be noted that, after the close of the committee's public
hearings in February 1966, three separate groups splintered away
from the United Klans of America and began operating as independ-
ent klans, while the aforementioned Mississippi Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan for all practical purposes ceased to exist upon the
death of its founder and leader.
The newest klans are—

(1) The Knights of the Green Forest, a small, militant group
of ex-members of the United Klans of America's Eealm of Mis-
sissippi who left that organization allegedly because of financial
irregularities on the part of United Klans leaders in that State.

(2) The Maryland Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, also known
as the Interstate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, organized mainly
through the efforts of Xavier Edwards, a former kleagle (or-
ganizer) for the United Klans of America in Maryland. Ed-
wards' group left the parent organization when certain leaders of
the Maryland Realm of the United Klans criticized Edwards for
open association with and recruitment of members of the Ameri-
can Nazi Party into the Maryland klan.

(3) The Universal Klans of America, also referred to as The
South, led by the United Klans former grand dragon for Louisi-
ana, Jack Helm, and principally composed of former southern
provinces of the Louisiana Realm of the United Klans.

This chapter will briefly examine each of the 15 klans in existence
in February 1966 with respect to their formation, location, leader-
ship, and the geographical distribution of the klaverns in which rank-
and-file members meet. The committee also offers membership fig-
ures which it emphasizes are only estimates. They represent the com-
mittee's best judgment of active and continuing klan membership,
without reference to the klans' own inflated membership claims.

In arriving at membership estimates, the committee relied chiefly
on field investigators' reports and analyses of bank records. With
respect to the latter source of information, the committee would like
to observe that, from the very beginning of its investigation, it had
subpenaed records of bank accounts maintained by klan organiza-
tions on National, State, and klavern levels. From these sources,
the committee continued to obtain information even after the close
of its public investigative hearings in February 1966. These records,
which included microfilmed copies of debit and credit items, enabled
the investigative staff to identify many of the klan leaders as well
as sources of income and recipients of funds.

For example, the committee determined that the main bank account
of the United Klans of America was maintained in Tuscaloosa, Ala.,
under the cover name, "Alabama Rescue Service." The records of this
account reflected, among other things, per capita dues of 50 cents a
month from local klaverns to national klan headquarters. 1

Checks and money orders passing through such accounts in many in-
stances identified not only officers of a klavern but also the official name
and number of the klavern and the cover name behind which it sought
to conceal its activity. In this sense, the bank records were an invalu-
able supplement to reports from investigators conducting on-the-spot
investigations. Payments of per capita taxes by local klaverns were
useful in supplementing investigative information regarding klavern
membership. It was also possible to observe fluctuations in rank-and-
file membership within a given State by the study of these records.

A total of 714 klaverns (local units of a klan) were found to be oper-
ative within the period 1964-1966. The figure includes 56 ladies
auxiliaries, which were affiliated with the United Klans of America
and located for the most part in the State of North Carolina. The
committee estimates that a total of 16,810 individuals belonged to
various klan organizations early in 1967, excluding ladies auxiliaries.
Tabulations indicating the klan affiliation and geographical distribu-
tion of these klaverns and klansmen appear on pages 145-163 of this
chapter.

Klan membership fluctuates according to the issues of the day as
well as the seasons of the year. Membership swings up in the sum-
mer and down in the winter. The figure of 16,810 is nevertheless be-
lieved to be accurate as of January 1967, based on the klaverns which
the committee has been able to identify. The committee does not as-
sume that it has succeeded in identifying all local units of every exist-
ing klan organization, but its errors of omission are estimated to be
less than 10 percent. In issuing such figures, the committee has at-
tempted to provide an approximate idea of the strength and scope of
organized klan activity in the United States in recent years.

"The i,\x was Increased from 20 cents to 50 centH in September 1964, although It wis
not onVcllvc nationally uiilil May I'.Mir..

20 THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Kltjx Klan, Inc.

The U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., continued to
operate in 1966, even though this once powerful organization was re-
duced to a single klavern with a steadily dwindling membership.

Its headquarters is located at II2V2 Harvard Avenue in College
Park, Ga., not far from Atlanta. It utilizes post office box 253 in Col-
lege Park for mailing purposes. 2

The preeminent role enjoyed by the U.S. Klans in the 1950's until the
death of its imperial wizard, Eldon L. Edwards, in August 1960, has
been described in the preceding chapter. 3 The internal wrangling
which broke out after the death of Edwards led to the splintering away
of most of the U.S. Klans original membership. Actually, however,
the first cracks in the U.S. Klans empire had appeared while Edwards
was still in command.

When Jack and Harry Brown, leaders of the U.S. Klans in Ten-
nessee, were expelled from the organization in 1957, they proceeded to
organize the Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. They took
with them several whole klavems in the Chattanooga area, several in
northwestern Georgia, and several in the area of Anniston, Ala. Also
in 1957, Edwards was having trouble with his grand dragon in Ala-
bama, Robert M. Shelton, who today is the imperial wizard of the
United Klans of America. Edwards found it necessary to replace
Shelton as grand dragon after a dispute over the manner in which
Shelton was reporting funds from the Alabama Realm. Shelton was
reinstated, only to be dismissed once again by Edwards. Shelton re-
taliated this time by taking out incorporation papers in May of 1960
for a new organization known as the Alabama Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan. Shelton took most of the Alabama membership of the U.S.
Klans into this new klan.

As previously noted, Kobert "Wild Bill" Davidson was elected as
Eldon Edwards' successor later in 1960, in spite of efforts by Edwards'
widow to install E. E. George in the imperial wizardship. The con-
tinued internal dissension led to the announcement by Davidson and
his Georgia Grand Dragon, Calvin Craig, on February 18, 1961, that
they were resigning from the U.S. Klans. On February 21, a new
organization known as the Invisible Empire, United Klans, Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan of America, Inc., was formed by the Davidson-
Craig faction. A large portion of the membership of the Georgia
Realm of the U.S. Klans went over to the new organization.

E. E. George succeeded Davidson as imperial wizard of the U.S.
Klans and remained in that position until October 1963, when the
U.S. Klans suffered another major split in its ranks.

On October 26, 1963, Imperial Wizard George received notification
that H. J. Jones, exalted cyclops of Klavern 297 in College Park, Ga.,
had called a klonvokation at which Jones was elected to the im-
perial wizardship of the U.S. Klans. Charges within the klan that
George had misused klan funds and had failed to promote the inter-
ests of the organization, allegedly prompted this action.

"Thi! TT.S. Kluns petition for ft ehnrter, granted by the State <>f Georgia oil <><■(. 24, 19B5,

Ih reproduced as mi exhibit on p, 174 of the appendix to this report, ti rlglnal incorpo-

niiorn wen- loid.m i ,. loriwimls, thi> in(c M. Wesley Morgan, and winii v Daniel. Sr„ port'

recently n member and oiiiciiii of the tiniifH Klans of America in the State of <i '(tin,

'S.M- |>p. Hff.

"THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

Following this notification, George and his followers in the U.S.
Klans left the organization and formed a new klan known as the
Improved Order of the U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,
Inc.

_ All of the then existing klaverns of the U.S. Klans, with the excep-
tion of Klavern 297 in College Park, Ga., followed George into his
new organization.

Since that time the entire U.S. Klans has consisted of that single
klavern. The membership was approximately 50 as of January 1967
and still dwindling.

Finances are small and meetings are held at irregular intervals.
Committee investigation established, nevertheless, that certain mem-
bers of the U.S. Klans attended demolition and guerrilla warfare-
type training sponsored by another klan organization on October 17,
1964, at Stockbridge, Ga.

The U.S. Klans has on several occasions sent representatives to
meet with the National Association of Ku Klux Klan, headed by
James R. Venable. It should be noted that no current members or
officers of the U.S. Klans were subpenaed as witnesses in the commit-
tee's recent hearings on klan organizations.

United Klans of America, Knights op the Kit Klux Klan, Inc.

The origin of this presently most powerful of klan organizations
as a splinter from the U.S. Klans has already been noted. When
Imperial Wizard Robert "Wild Bill" Davidson and Georgia Grand
Dragon Calvin F. Craig resigned from the U.S. Klans in February
1961, they were almost immediately heralded as holding the same
exalted offices in a new klan.

The Superior Court of Fulton County, Ga., on February 21, 1961,
issued a charter to the new organization in the name of the Invisible
Empire, United Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of America,
Inc. 4 Although the organization is commonly known as the United
Klans of America, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. (UKA) , the
name as it appeared on the charter has never been officially changed.
The annual registration statement filed by the klan with the State
of Georgia in November 1964 uses the title in the charter.

The original incorporators of the UKA were Robert Day, George
Sligh, William A Daniel, Sr., and M. Wesley Morgan, all ex-mem-
bers of the U.S. Klans in Georgia.

Membership in this new organization was immediately bolstered by
a mass defection, within the State of Georgia, from the U.S. Klans.
Whole klaverns, not only in the Atlanta area where the klan had the
strongest concentration of membership at that time but also in outlying
areas in Georgia, simply changed their designation from U.S. Klans
to UKA.

Davidson remained as imperial wizard until approximately April
1, 1961. He allegedly left the organization because of some disagree-
ment over UKA participation in klan demonstrations against integra-
tion of the State university at Athens, Ga.

UKA membership was confined to Georgia in the spring of 1961
and its headquarters was located in Atlanta. There were indica-
tions that negotiations were then being conducted between the Georgia

* Reproduced on p. 177 of the appendix.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

organization and the Alabama Knights of the Ku Klux Klan headed
by Robert Shelton to merge the two organizations. It should be re-
called that Shelton, prior to incorporating the Alabama Knights, had
served as grand dragon for the Alabama Realm of U.S. Klans. His.
dismissal by Eldon Edwards not only involved Shelton's failure to
report klan funds but also his failure to control the increased violence
of the Alabama contingent of the U.S. Klans.

A meeting in Indian Springs, Ga., on July 8, 1961, brought together
Shelton and other representatives of the Alabama Knights, Craig and
other officials of the Georgia-based UKA, and a smattering of officials
from various splinter klan groups in other sections of the South. It
was agreed at this conference to merge the Alabama Knights with
the UKA. A small number of klansmen from South Carolina, North
Carolina, and other Southern States also entered the UKA as a result
of this meeting. Robert Shelton emerged as the new imperial wizard
of the United Klans of America and Calvin Craig remained grand
dragon for Georgia.

From that day, this organization gradually expanded into the larg-
est and most powerful klan in existence in the United States.

Using a white supremacy slogan .and exploiting sentiment against
integration, civil rights measures, and increasing drives for Negro
equality, the United Klans of America established State organizations
in the following 19 States :

Georgia

Alabama

South Carolina

North Carolina

Virginia

Florida

Tennessee

Mississippi

Louisiana

Texas

Arkansas

Maryland

Ohio

Delaware

Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Indiana
Wisconsin

Committee investigation established that the bulk of UKA member-
ship and activity is confined to the States which comprised the old
Confederacy. Those realms outside this region have remained small
in size and relatively ineffective. There is also evidence that some
members have been recruited by the UKA in other Northern and West-
ern States not officially designated as realms. Michigan is an example 5

UKA membership climbed steadily after July 1961, except for a
brief decline from October 1965 to March 1966, due mainly to public
hearings into ku klux klan activity by this committee. Since that
time, however, there has been a substantial increase in UKA member-
ship. It may be attributed for the most part to increased organiza-
tional activity, especially in North Carolina and Virginia where the
growth rate is disturbingly great, and to strong reaction to riots and
racial unrest which the klan leadership has been most adept at exploit-
ing for its own ends in various sections of the South.

INTERNAL ORGANIZATION

From July 8, 1961, until the conclusion of the committee's hearings
in February 1966, the headquarters of the UKA was located at 401
Alston Building, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Thereafter, the headquarters was

"See p. :i(l of HiIm chapter for further rofcrenco to recruitment by the United Klu.ni I"
Michigan.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

transferred to Shelton's residence in Tuscaloosa. All realm (State)
headquarters and other klan subdivisions are governed by the imperial
wizard (national chairman or president) from this location.

The United Klans of America, like most of the other presently
operating klans, has an organizational structure modeled in most re-
spects upon the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan formed by William
Simmons in 1915.

The "invisible empire" of the UKA is geographically coextensive
with the United States — although the UKA by no means is in opera-
tion in every State. A realm, largest subdivision of the invisible em-
pire, consists of a State. A "province," into which realms are sub-
divided, consists of a congressional district within a State. A klanton
embraces the jurisdiction of a klavern, which is the local chapter and
smallest unit of the invisible empire. 6

At the top of the hierarchy of officials in the invisible empire is the
imperial wizard, who is assisted by a cabinet (kloncilium) of 15 im-
perial officers known as genii. The UKA constitution recognizes the
supremacy of the imperial wizard only in administrative matters. The
genii and biennial conventions known as klonvokations are supposed to
have a role in governing the order. In practice, the imperial wizard
exercises absolute power. His edicts are followed without deviation in
all echelons of the invisible empire. Although the constitution pro-
vides for a regular convening of klonvokations, none has been held
since 1964 because the imperial wizard has not seen fit to summon such
a meeting.

A kleagle or organizer is an appointed official whose duty is to re-
cruit members on a regional basis. He is appointed by the imperial
wizard who by virtue of office also holds the title of supreme kleagle.

A realm is commanded by a grand dragon and a cabinet of nine hy-
dras. A province is headed by a great titan with the assistance of
seven furies.

Each local klavern is headed by an exalted cyclops as chief officer,
aided by 12 terrors. These terrors are 7 —

klaliff (vice president) ;

klokard (lecturer or teacher) ;

kludd (chaplain) ;

kligrapp (secretary) ;

klabee (treasurer) ;

kladd (conductor) ;

klarogo (inner guard) ;

klexter (outer guard) ;

klokan (investigator), who serves on the klokann committee
(a three-man board of investigators and auditors) ;

night hawk (custodian of the fiery cross, which he carries in all
ceremonies and public exhibitions, and custodian of applicants im-
mediately prior to their initiation) .

° Some of Simmons' nomenclature has become outmoded. For example, he had designated
nriil.} V t *i ttS T?i?F a kla JL a ii d lts mee * ln g P!ace as a klavern. These designations still
"£^f * B? , V , KA constitution, even though klansmen today generally refer to the
smallest subdivision of their organization as a klavern. The constitutions of the White
Knights Jn Mississippi and the Original Knights In Louisiana reflect the modern usage,
bo win tnis report.

n J^Hn^^?™™"^ f0 . r th £ of fL cer I, "s&lstinK the exalted cyclops is also used for officials

assisting Uw Imperial wizard. To distinguish them from klavern officers, imperial is added

to the title ; e.g., imperial klaliff. imperial klokard.

The nam.- offices, with the exception of the klokann committee, appear on the State

1. They are distinguished by the addition of grand to (lie title (grand klaliff, grand

i.i,.i... _.•

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Klaverns vary considerably in numerical strength. Some have
only a handful of members, while a few have as many as 200. The
constitution of the UKA 8 states that before a klavern is chartered
by the imperial wizard there must be 25 or more members. Com-
mittee investigation has determined that in many cases the United
Klans waived this requirement and issued charters to groups of four
or five persons, in hopes that the membership would grow. In fact,
most klaverns of the United Klans of America were found to have
less than 25 active members even though they showed a "book mem-
bership" of many times that figure. Many of them, furthermore, had
been in existence for a long period of time.

Klavern meetings are closed to all except members and visiting
klansmen. There is wide variety in the meeting places. Klansmen
have met in private homes, clubhouses, stores, barns, old farmsheds,
and garages. Any room can be used so long as it is supplied with an
altar on which lies a Bible opened at Romans 12, an American flag,
an unsheathed sword, and a container of water. (Further details are
available in the section dealing with klan ritual.)

The Imperial Wizard issued guidelines for the most effective oper-
ation of local klaverns in the printed manual, "The Klan In Action."
The document informed klavern officers that the success of the klan's
policies depended upon the performance of klavern committees. The
manual listed 22 subjects with which klavern committees should con-
cern themselves. While some committees were to deal with purely
internal matters such as the budget and grievances, others had func-
tions which experience shows tend to pit klansmen against the forces
of law and order in local communities.

An intelligence committee, for example, was supposed to gather in-
formation regarding "enemies within and without" the klan. Mem-
bership of this committee was to be kept secret from others in the
klavern. A propaganda committee was to maintain a watch on means
of disseminating information or opinion in the community (the press,
radio and public speakers, for example). The committee was to report
on any form of "propaganda" adverse to the klan or the principles it
espoused. The functions of a public schools committee included in-
vestigating and making reports on public school officials and teachers.

The United Klans, beginning in the summer of 1961 and continu-
ing through 1963, conducted an intensive recruiting drive aimed ulti-
mately at bringing the entire klan movement under the leadership of
the UKA. This drive by the UKA to lure the members of other
klans into its fold has met with considerable success. The United
Klans has shown an organizational ability superior to that of other
klan groups in the South, and for this reason has been able to attract
many members from diverse klan groups and to reactivate many
others formerly active in the klan movement.

Robert Shelton and organizers such as Calvin Craig, Robert Scog-
gin, of South Carolina, and J. Robertson Jones, of North Carolina,
in their public promotional endeavors, increasingly tried to blur the
traditional image of the klans as a band of violent, fanatical night
riders and to emphasize the klan's role as one of political activists who
alone could somehow stop Negro attempts at desegregation and equal-
ity. Actual recruiting practices, however, demonstrated that the

• EUproduetf »" »» exhibit i» ""■ appendix, p. LSI.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

UKA was accepting fanatical and violence-prone elements into its
fold.

As the Negro drive for desegregation in the South manifested itself
in a growing number of marches, demonstrations, and sit-ins, the klan's
organizational drive picked up momentum in some areas of the South.
Rallies became more frequent, new members were enrolled, as Shelton
traveled extensively through the South propagandizing and recruiting
for the klan. His grand dragons were doing the same in their respec-
tive States.

By late 1963, Shelton's UKA had become the dominant klan orga-
nization in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and
Georgia, and was making inroads into the klan movements in Florida,
Louisiana, and Texas. During the latter part of 1963, the UKA had
an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 active members.

In the following year, the klans seized on a new issue, just as they
had done in the period following the Supreme Court ruling in behalf
of school desegregation in 1954. This issue was the Civil Rights Act of

1964, particularly that section of the bill dealing with public accommo-
dations. Portraying the proposed passage of this bill as the beginning
of the extinction of the white race and the start of Negro domination
in the South, the UKA was able to attract considerable attention to it-
self and register substantial gains.

\ The committee found evidence of only two imperial klonvokations
since the formation of the UKA in 1961.

One klonvokation was held on February 8 and 9, 1964, and the other
on September 5 and 6, 1964. Both were held in a hotel in Birmingham,
Ala., and both were represented to the hotel management as conven-
tions of the Alabama Rescue Service.
The officers elected at these klonvokations were as follows :

Robert M. Shelton (Alabama) , imperial wizard ;

Robert Thompson (Georgia) , imperial klaliff ;

W. O. Perkins (Alabama) , imperial kligrapp ;

Frederick Smith (Alabama), imperial klabee;

Robert Collins (Georgia), imperial klokard ;

George Dorsett (North Carolina) , imperial kludd ;

Robert Hudgins (North Carolina) , imperial kladd ;

Walter Brown ( South Carolina ) , imperial klarogo ;

Robert Korman (Florida), imperial klexter; and

Amos Pedigo (Tennessee) , imperial night hawk.
To the best of the committee's knowledge, there has been no imperial
klonvokation subsequent to September 1964. There have been three
known changes in the above-listed imperial officers. In the summer of

1965, Melvin Sexton, a next-door neighbor of Shelton's, was appointed
by Shelton to the post of imperial kligrapp (secretary). W. O. Per-
kins, the former kligrapp, took over Frederick Smith's position as im-
perial klabee (treasurer) , also without benefit of formal election.

Imperial Wizard Shelton publicly announced in the spring of 1967
that he had banished George Dorsett, the imperial kludd (chaplain),
from the United Klans organization.

ALABAMA REALM OF THE UKA

Having brought the existing klaverns of the Alabama Knights into
I he newly formed UKA, Imperial Wizard Shelton possessed a func-

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

tioning organization in Alabama as early as July 1961. Committee in-
vestigation revealed that the strength of the Alabama Realm was less
than one might expect in a State housing the national klan headquar-
ters and three of the imperial officers. The realm neyer approached
the peak memberships registered in Mississippi, North Carolina and
Georgia. It ranked fifth in the number of klaverns which the com-
mittee found had been organized within the various realms in the
period 1964-1966.

Since the founding of the United Klans, there have been four succes-
sive grand dragons in the Realm of Alabama. Hubert A. Page 9 served
in that capacity until March 1964. He was succeeded by Robert Creel,
whose tenure as grand dragon lasted until the first of January 1966,
according to his own testimony before the committee. At that time,
William Brassell was elected to succeed Creel. Since the close of the
committee hearings in February 1966, a fourth individual has been ele-
vated to that office. He is James Spears, of Decatur, Ala., who was
elected at a State klonvokation at Linden, Ala., on June 19, 1966.

Committee investigation into the concentration of membership and
the number of klaverns in the United Klans Realm of Alabama estab-
lished the existence of at least 40 different klaverns in the realm at one
time or another in the period 1964-66. The klaverns are listed on
page 149 of this report. From material in the committee's files, it
seems evident that the number of klaverns in Alabama greatly in-
creased between March 1965 and the end of 1966. Prior to March 1965,
it is believed that the Realm of Alabama had less than a dozen active
klaverns. As of January 1967, there were approximately 1,200 mem-
bers of the United Klans in the State of Alabama.

GEORGIA REALM OF THE UKA

Since the inception of the United Klans of America in the State of
Georgia in February 1961, leadership of its Georgia Realm has always
rested in the hands of Grand Dragon Calvin Craig. As in the case
of Alabama, the Realm of Georgia was at birth endowed with a frame-
work of. klaverns and klansmen taken over from the U.S. Klans,
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

At the time the UKA was formed, the membership of the U.S. Klans
was probably in the neighborhood of 500 active members. Calvin
Craig recruited into the UKA fold approximately 97 percent of those
members and upon that foundation went on to build the Georgia or-

fanization into one of the largest UKA realms of the present day.
Membership increases in the State of Georgia can be best explained by
the organizational abilities of the grand dragon. Craig is particularly
fond of turning up at civil rights demonstrations and sit-ins, increas-
ing racial tensions and utilizing resultant publicity to attract new
recruits into his organization.

The Realm of Georgia showed a moderate surge in activity and mem-
bership during the period prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, when Craig and his Georgia organizers were exploiting that
issue to the maximum advantage. Like Shelton, Craig sometimes tries
to give the klan an air of respectability by shunning the hood and robe

"The ciiiiinillliT was Unable to lncnlc Pngo for the purpoHo of Hcrvlnp 11 Hiibponn.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

and appearing at klan rallies and functions in a business suit. His
talks also tend to give considerable stress to political activity.

The committee found evidence of the existence of 57 klaverns in the
State of Georgia at one time or another in the period 1964-66. They are
listed on pages 151, 152 of this report.. Not all of the klaverns continued
active, of course. For example, the klavern which existed in the city
of Athens, in Clarke County, which was known as Clarke County
Klavern No. 244, disbanded subsequent to the arrest and trial of Joseph
Howard Sims and Cecil Myers in connection with the Lemuel Penn
murder case in 1964. Many former members of Clarke County Klav-
ern No. 244 moved into the Oglethorpe County Klavern and others
continued their activities as part of Vinegar Hill Klavern No. 53.
Joseph Howard Sims and Cecil Meyers, following their acquittal in
the Penn murder case, continued their activity within the United
Klans of America as members of Vinegar Hill Klavern No. 53.

The Georgia Realm of the United Klans had approximately 1,400
members as of January 1967.

NORTH CAROLINA REALM OF THE UKA

The building of the United Klans organization in North Carolina
started very slowly. During the years 1962 and 1963, UKA efforts in
that State were mainly directed at attempting to combine various ex-
isting klan organizations under the leadership of the UKA. As of
late 1963, the grand dragon for the State was Arthur Leonard of
Salisbury, N.C. In 1964, however, a young protege of Leonard named
James Robertson Jones, took over the reins as grand dragon. Jones
immediately launched a statewide campaign to recruit new members in
North Carolina. Jones, using astute organizational methods and ex-
ploiting to the hilt the issues presented by the passage of the Civil
Rights Act, developed the North Carolina organization into the largest
and most successful of all UKA realms in the United States.

The committee obtained evidence of the establishment of 192 sepa-
rate klaverns in the State of North Carolina within the period 1964-66.
The klaverns are listed on pages 155-159 of this report. It is estimated
that there were approximately 7,500 active members in the Realm of
North Carolina as of January 1967, and the organization was con-
tinuing to move ahead.

The organizational ability of North Carolina klansmen is being
utilized to build up klan strength in other States. For example, a
former lieutenant of North Carolina Grand Dragon Jones was dis-
patched to be the grand dragon and chief organizer in the State of
Virginia. Ex-officers and paid organizers from the Realm of North
Carolina were also dispatched to Florida to be organizers for the UKA
in that State. In both cases, especially in Virginia, these organiza-
tional methods as originally employed in North Carolina seem to be
meeting with success.

SOUTH CAROLINA REALM OF THE UKA

As in Alabama and Georgia, the United Klans of America has been
in existence in South Carolina since July 1961, when former members
of the U.S. Klans in the State went over to the newly formed UKA.
Robert Scoggin, former grand dragon of the U.S. Klans in South

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Carolina, emerged from the founding meeting of the TJKA at Indian
Springs, Ga., in July 1961 as the UKA's South Carolina grand dragon.

The history of the United Klans organization in South Carolina
under the leadership of Grand Dragon Scoggin has been one of steady
progress. Early in 1964, the South Carolina Kealm included about
20 klaverns. Committee investigation established that at least 50
klaverns had been organized by the end of 1966. These klaverns are
listed on page 160 of this report. It is estimated that, as of Jan-
uary 1967, approximately 800 klansmen were enrolled in the South
Carolina Realm of the United Klans of America.

The UKA organization is the dominant and most militant klan
within the State. It receives very little opposition from the rela-
tively inactive and less militant Association of South Carolina Klans,
described subsequently in this report. The UKA has, in fact, at-
tempted to recruit the membership of the Association of South Caro-
lina Klans.

FLORIDA REALM OF THE UKA

Since late 1961, the dominant ku klux klan organization in the
State of Florida has been the United Florida Ku Klux Klan under the
leadership of Jason E. Kersey. This klan is discussed under a sep-
arate heading later in this chapter. The United Klans of America
is a relative latecomer to the Florida klan movement.

The UKA made attempts to start a State organization in Florida in
the fall of 1964. At that time, Robert Shelton appointed Donald
Cothran to be the grand dragon and chief organizer for the United
Klans in Florida. Activity of the United Klans was initially limited
to the Jacksonville area, where Cothran had his headquarters. Under
Cothran's reign, attempts to organize in other parts of the State were
relatively unsuccessful. As of the summer of 1965, membership in the
UKA was less than 100 members. However, the UKA initiated ac-
tivity that year in the Fort Lauderdale-Miami area and small klav-
erns were also established in the Ocala and other central Florida areas.

In the summer of 1965, a factional fight developed within the
UKA's Florida Realm. A group of members, led by Charles "Rip"
Riddlehoover, left the State organization of the UKA and started a
new klan known as the United Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The
faction led by Riddlehoover protested against the leadership of
Cothran, who was accused of mismanagement of funds and dictatorial
methods in running the klan organization and appointing State
officers.

Late in 1965, Robert Shelton made several trips to the State of
Florida in an attempt to reorganize and strengthen his organization
in that State. He spoke at klan rallies in the Fort Lauderdale and
central Florida area. At this time, in a further effort to promote
effective leadership in the Realm of Florida, Boyd Hamby, a paid or-
ganizer and former State officer in the Realm of North Carolina, and
George Dorsett, also a paid organizer for the North Carolina organiza-
tion, 10 were transferred to Florida by Shelton. The two set up head-
quarters for the Florida Realm in the Titusville area.

The committee obtained evidence of the operation of 27 separate
klaverns within the period 1964-66. They are listed on page 150 of this

'"HoihcIi concurrently held the national klan <>in<-e of Imperial kludd (chaplain).

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

report. It is not known how many klaverns are active as of present
date. Apparently, Hamby, who took over the position of grand
dragon in Florida in late 1965, has tried to consolidate the dissident
factions in the State. The UKA is still beset with internal prob-
lems, and a lack of public support for klan activity in the State
makes recruiting additionally difficult. Membership of United Klans
of America in the State of Florida as of January 1967 was approxi-
mately 400 members.

VIRGINIA REALM OF THE UKA

From all available evidence, UKA recruiting began in Virginia in
the spring of 1965, with the formation of several klaverns in the
Portsmouth-Chesapeake area, under the leadership of an interim
grand dragon, Sandy Coley. UKA recruiting in (Virginia under the
leadership of Coley was relatively unsuccessful.

In the late summer of 1965, however, Marshall Robert Kornegay, a
former paid UKA organizer in North Carolina, was dispatched to
serve as grand dragon of the Virginia Realm. Kornegay established
headquarters in the South Hill area of Virginia and concentrated
on recruiting members in the southern part of the State near the
North Carolina border. Soon after Kornegay's arrival in Virginia,
a massive organizing campaign was begun. Klan applications for
membership were passed out at a seemingly endless succession of public
rallies and the State organization began to take shape. Since Korne-
gay's assignment to Virginia as grand dragon, the number of klaverns
has increased to at least 32. All are believed to be currently active. 11
It is estimated that there were approximately 1,250 active members in
the Virginia Realm as of January 1967.

MISSISSIPPI REALM OF THE UKA

The first signs of life in the modern klan movement in Mississippi
appeared in the autumn of 1963, when approximately 300 Mississip-
pians were recruited into membership in the Original Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana. This move of the Original Knights into
Mississippi was engineered mainly through the efforts of J. D. Swen-
son and Royal V. Young, organizers of the Original Knights in
Louisiana, who were later removed from the organization for mis-
management of funds, especially moneys derived from the sale of klan
robes.

The Original Knights organization in Mississippi was short lived.
The appointed officers in Mississippi, Douglas Byrd and Edward L.
McDaniel, were expelled from the organization in December 1963
amid charges and countercharges of thievery, conversion of klan funds
for private use, and mismanagement.

Byrd took most of the Mississippi membership from the Original
Knights and went on to form another klan organization in Missis-
sippi, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. McDaniel spent a
few months as a member and officer of the White Knights. When he
left that organization he was again under the cloud of having appro-
priated klan funds for his own use.

" ;;.(■ appendix p. 102 of this report for a listing of these klaverns.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Meanwhile, the first klavern of the UKA in Mississippi was estab-
lished at McComb, Miss., in the spring of 1964. Another UKA
klavern was formed at Natchez, Miss., on August 29, 1964. This
latter unit in Adams County was known publicly as the Adams County
Civic & Betterment Association. Most of its members had previously
belonged to the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi.
They were led into the UKA by Edward L. McDaniel.

Committee investigation established that McDaniel was secretly
recruiting for the UKA while technically still a member of the White
Knights. For this recruiting activity in behalf of the UKA in Mis-
sissippi, he was commended by Imperial Wizard Shelton at the im-
perial klonvokation of the UKA in Birmingham in September 1964.

At this same klonvokation, McDaniel was introduced to the dele-
gates as the grand dragon of the UKA Realm of Mississippi. He
soon joined Robert Shelton, the imperial wizard, in a huge campaign
of rallies and speakings held all over the State beginning in the fall
of 1964.

Thereafter, the UKA in Mississippi achieved tremendous success in
recruiting members into its organization. Most of this success was
achieved at the expense of its sister klan organization, the White
Knights, whose involvement in the Philadelphia murder case, plus
a multitude of bombings and burnings across the whole of Mississippi
during 1964 and 1965, had branded it as the most violent and mili-
tant of the klan organizations.

UKA strategy in Mississippi, as in several other Southern States,
was to build an image of nonviolence. UKA leaders such as Shelton
and McDaniel would publicly proclaim nonviolent intent, in spite of
the fact that concealed members of the UKA were engaged in a series
of bombings in the McComb, Miss., area beginning in the summer
of 1964.

UKA strategy proved, so successful in Mississippi that whole
klaverns formerly associated with the White Knights turned to the
UKA. By the start of 1966, UKA was the dominant klan in
Mississippi.

The committee had received evidence that 76 separate klaverns in
Mississippi were at one time or another associated with the UKA be-
tween the spring 1964 and the end of 1966. They are listed on pages
153, 154 of this report. It should be remembered that many of these
units were once part of the White Knights network and a number of
these klaverns will, therefore, also appear in the listing of White
Knights klaverns active over the same period.

As late as August 1966, continuing investigation of klan activities
established that Imperial Wizard Shelton declared all offices of the
Mississippi realm vacant, including the office of grand dragon held by
McDaniel. According to information received by the committee, this
move was prompted by charges leveled at McDaniel and other realm
officers by a faction of the UKA's Mississippi membership. Charges
again involved misappropriation of klan funds for personal benefit.
Shelton appeared to be backing the faction making the allegations
against McDaniel. Since that time the organization has been wracked
with dissension and whole klaverns have become inactive. Whatever
direction and control is exerted over the UKA membership in Missis-
sippi is coming directly from Shelton's headquarters in Tuscaloosa,
Ala.

It is difficult to assess the effect of this turbulence on the active mem-
bership in Mississippi. However, it is known that in Mississippi, un-
like other Southern States, notably North Carolina, Georgia, and
Alabama, klan membership has recently decreased. This applies to
both the UKA and the White Knights.

Of the 76 UKA klaverns known to have existed, a majority has be-
come inactive due to the action of Imperial Wizard Shelton. The ac-
tive membership of the UKA in Mississippi has been reduced to ap-
proximately 750 as of January 1967.

LOUISIANA REALM OF THE UKA

Definite signs of the reactivation of klan activity in the State of
Louisiana were noted late in 1960, with the formation of the
Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From that time to at least
January 1965 the Original Knights dominated the Louisiana klan
movement. Klaverns were set up in most parts of the State, with the
heaviest concentration in the areas of Shreveport, Monroe, and the
Sixth Congressional District, including Bogalusa.

Internal dissension in the Original Knights eventually led to a three-
way split in the organization. Most of the membership of two of the
factions ultimately defected to the United Klans. 12

The United Klans of America was attempting to organize within the
State of Louisiana by late 1963. Louisiana klansmen attended the
UKA's first imperial klonvocation in February 1964. By April 1964,
several klaverns of the Original Knights located in the area of Jones-
boro and Monroe, La., had switched over to the UKA. Under the
leadership of James Malcolm Edwards, who had emerged as the grand
dragon of the UKA organization in Louisiana late in 1964, the klan
continued to gain strength.

With the defection of Houston P. Morris from the Original Knights
to the UKA in 1965, Shelton's organization obtained additional klav-
erns in Louisiana and also Arkansas. Later Saxon Farmer, an Orig-
inal Knights official from Bogalusa, joined the UKA recruiting team
and the UKA became the strongest klan in Washington Parish.

Aided by the dissension and factionalism within the Original
Knights, the United Klans of America became the dominant klan in
the State of Louisiana by the summer of 1965.

Grand Dragon Edwards was interrogated by the committee in pub-
lic hearings on January 11, 1966. Shortly after his appearance, how-
ever, he was deposed as grand dragon by the Louisiana membership
and replaced by former Grand Klaliff jack Helm, of New Orleans.

In March 1967, dissension within the Louisiana Realm culminated
in the secession of the southern provinces. Grand Dragon Helm led
the secessionists into a newly created Universal Klans of America.
Helm is the commander of the new group, which is also referred to
as The South.

The United Klans subsequently took official action "banishing"
Helm but failed to name a successor. Although Imperial Wizard
Shelton has appointed Houston P. Morris and Coy Neal as kleagles
at large for the Louisiana Realm, the State organization appears to be
under the direct supervision of national klan headquarters. As is the

la 'Sco section on Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, p. 48.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

case in Mississippi, Louisiana klaverns report directly to the United
Klans office in Tuscaloosa, Ala., rather than to a State headquarters.
The committee found evidence that, during the years 1964-66, at
least 30 klaverns were affiliated with the United Klans in Louisiana.
They are listed on page 152 of this report. It is estimated that the
membership of the Louisiana Realm was approximately 700 as of
January 1967.

TEXAS REALM OF THE T7KA

Prior to the summer of 1965, klan activity in the State of Texas was
at a virtual standstill. Even the attempts of Eldon Edwards, of the
U.S. Klans, to make Texas a part of his invisible empire back in the
late 1950's had not proved particularly fruitful.

United Klan activity in Texas first manifested itself when two dele-
gates from Texas attended the UKA imperial klonvokation in Bir-
mingham, Ala., in September 1964.

The first public evidence of a formal organization of the UKA in
Texas came at a meeting of UKA leaders in North Carolina in Aug-
ust 1965, when Robert Shelton introduced George A. Otto, of Houston,
Tex., as the acting grand dragon of the State. Only a few months
prior to that time, UKA attempts to organize in Texas had resulted
in the recruiting of small groups of klansmen in the area of Houston
under the hard-core leadership of George Otto and William Drennan,
who had ambitions to establish klaverns throughout the State.

When the UKA starts a recruitment drive in a new State, a high
UKA official, usually the imperial wizard, travels to the State, for a
fee, to speak at several prearranged rallies. The object is to draw as
much publicity as possible and get new membership applications to
embellish the membership of the local klavern. The hat is passed as
often as possible to insure that the trip is also financially rewarding.

Robert Shelton showed up in Texas in September 1965 to kickoff
such a recruiting drive. On his arrival, however, he found the existing
organization in very bad shape. In addition to the fact that the mem-
bership was very small and there was relatively little relish among
Texans for the antics of the United Klans, Shelton found a bitter fight
within the membership which was divided into a faction backing Otto
and another backing William Drennan, and an apparent potential
third faction under Royce McPhail waiting to move in on the winner.

Shelton reportedly was discouraged with the situation in Texas
as of September 1965, refused to grant it realm status, and told the
leadership he would return when the State was better organized. This
he never did.

Both Otto and Drennan had used the title of acting grand dragon
in order to give added stature to the UKA organization in Texas,
although Drennan was actually an appointed "State representative"
of the UKA in Texas and Otto was officially a kleagle. 13

Texas finally obtained recognition as a realm of the United Klans
of America on December 11, 1965, when delegates from the factions
led by Otto and McPhail met at Midway, Tex., and elected a roster
of realm officers. The Drennan faction was not represented at the

"Otto resigned from the klnu on Dec. 11, 1965. and testified frankly before the com-
mittee on Jan. 28, 1966, in an executive session later made public.

meeting. McPhail became the first official grand dragon. He thereafter
encouraged members of the Drennan faction to return to the fold.
McPhail was succeeded in 1966 by Grand Dragon Jack Cannon, of
Beaumont, Tex.

The United Klans operation in Texas has been relatively ineffective
and most of the activity has centered in the area around Houston.

The committee found evidence of the existence of 14 separate
klaverns in Texas. They are listed on page 161 of this report. It is esti-
mated that active membership as of January 1967 was approxi-
mately 200.

ARKANSAS REALM OF THE UKA

Committee investigation into klan activity in the State of Arkansas
uncovered little in the way of organized or militant klan activity dur-
ing the period 1959 to mid-1965.

During this period, the relatively inactive and ineffective Associa-
tion of Arkansas Klans was the dominant organization in the State.
There were attempts on the part of outside klan groups, notably the
Original Knights in Louisiana and the National Knights of James
Venable to spur klan activity in the State. These attempts, on the
whole, were unsuccessful, although isolated klaverns sprang up and
maintained a loose affiliation with the above-mentioned groups.

The first UKA incursion of any consequence into Arkansas came in
the summer of 1965. During preparations for a speech to be given in
El Dorado, Ark., by Robert Shelton, imperial wizard of UKA, George
McNeely was publicly announced to be the elected grand dragon for
the State.

Investigation revealed the establishment since that time of 10 sep-
arate klaverns in Arkansas, with concentration in the Union County
area. Their locations are indicated in the klavern listings on page 150
of this report. Membership is estimated to be approximately 150 active
members as of January 1967. Very little public klan activity was
observed.

TENNESSEE REALM OF THE UKA

Prior to the formation of the United Klans of America in 1961,
the dominant klan organization in the State of Tennessee was the
Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, under the leadership of
Jack Brown, whose strength in terms of membership and activity
was centered around the area of Chattanooga, Tenn.

The United Klans of America made its first attempt at starting an
organization in Tennessee soon after its founding meeting at Indian
Springs, Ga., in 1961. Until 1965, the UKA in Tennessee was rela-
tively unsuccessful in attracting new membership and its activity was
concentrated in the area of Maryville, Tenn., where the UKA had set
up headquarters under Grand Dragon Raymond Anderson. As of
October 1965, there were only five active klaverns in the State of
Tennessee to the best of the committee's knowledge. Since that time,
it has come to the attention of the committee that five additional klav-
erns have been set up in the State, making a total of 10 klaverns known
to have been established in Tennessee. They are listed on page 161 of
Hits report. United Klans of America membership in the State of
Tennessee is estimated to be approximately 225.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

OHIO REALM OF THE UKA

Efforts to rekindle the ku klux klan in the State of Ohio started in
approximately May 1964 with the efforts of James Venable, of the
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Venable, apparently sens-
ing that Ohio presented opportunities for expansion of his organiza-
tion and seeing most parts of the South being effectively organized
by Shelton's UKA, geared his greatest organizational effort to date on
that Northern State.

As early as September 1963, several Ohio residents, including
Flynn Harvey, of Columbus, were recruited into the National
Knights at a rally at Stone Mountain, Ga. Their return to Ohio
provided a nucleus for the expansion of Venable's organization in
that State. In the fall of 1964, Harvey was named by Venable to
be the grand dragon for the National Knights in Ohio. Harvey
was also one of three original incorporators of the National Knights
in the State. Flynn Harvey fell into disfavor with the membership
of the National Knights in Ohio; formal charges against him ranged
from mismanagement of funds to drunkenness and ineffective leader-
ship.

Harvey stepped down as grand dragon for Venable in May 1965
and immediately cast his lot with Shelton's UKA. In short time he
emerged as grand dragon for the Ohio Realm of the United Klans of
America. From that time forward, UKA has had an organization
in Ohio.

Later the same year, other klansmen previously associated with
Venable began defecting to the UKA. Shelton dropped Harvey as
leader of the UKA in Ohio in favor of Jim Harris, of Cincinnati, in
late 1965. However, by that time the whole klan movement in Ohio
amounted to little more than paper organizations. The several hun-
dred klansmen who were initiated into membership after paying the
required membership fee were never really welded into an effective
unit by either Shelton or Venable.

The committee received evidence of the establishment of at least
four separate klaverns of the UKA in Ohio during 1965 and 1966.
They are listed on page 159 of this report. As of January 1967, the
active membership of UKA in Ohio was approximately 100.

PENNSYLVANIA REALM OF THE UKA

The first evidence of UKA activity in the State of Pennsylvania
came in the late summer of 1965, when it was announced at a UKA
meeting at Salisbury, N.C., that Roy Frankhouser, of Reading, Pa.,
had been appointed grand dragon for the State. Frankhouser had
previously held membership in the American Nazi Party and the Na-
tional States Rights Party.

Frankhouser, although officially grand dragon for Pennsylvania, is
known to have been active in UKA recruiting drives in New York,
New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Through Frankhouser's in-
fluence, ex-members of the American Nazi Party assisted in the UKA
recruiting efforts in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and New
Jersey.

The committee received no evidence that Frankhouser was success-
ful in his organizing work in Pennsylvania. Investigations failed to

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

establish the existence of any klavern in the State other than the klav-
ern in Reading, Pa., where the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Realm
is also located.

Actual UKA membership in Pennsylvania as of January 1967 is
estimated at approximately 50. The klan was inactive outside the
Reading area.

DELAWARE REALM OF THE UKA

On August 1, 1965, Ralph Pryor, Jr., was appointed grand dragon
of UKA's Delaware Realm. He was installed in office following the
UKA rally on July 31 at Bear, Del., which was to inaugurate UKA
recruiting in the Middle Atlantic States. This rally, at which the
imperial wizard and other high officers spoke, succeeded in attracting
an estimated 2,000 persons.

The following months saw the establishment of several active klav-
erns in Delaware, mainly in the Wilmington area. The State organi-
zation of the UKA in Delaware used the cover name, "Delaware
Birdwatchers."

The Realm of Delaware experienced the same difficulties which beset
many other klan realms. Grand Dragon Pryor left the organization
in January 1966 after making charges of mismanagement of funds
and infiltration of the Delaware Realm by Nazi elements.

During the period August 1965 through 1966, the committee re-
ceived evidence of the establishment of five klaverns of the UKA in
Delaware. They are listed on page 150 of this report. As of January
1967, it is estimated that active UKA membership in the State was
approximately 100.

MARYLAND REALM OF THE UKA

As previously noted, UKA organizing in the State of Maryland
began soon after the UKA rally in Bear, Del., on July 31, 1965. A
number of residents from Maryland had attended the Delaware rally.
When the Delaware Realm of the UKA was created following the
rally, its geographical boundaries actually included the northeast cor-
ner of the State of Maryland, including the town of Elkton.

Organizing in the remainder of the State of Maryland has been
under the direction of Vernon Naimaster, of Baltimore, publicized as
acting grand dragon.

The UKA has made little progress in Maryland. In the summer of
1966, the fledgling organization was split by the banishment of a group
of klansmen led by Xavier Edwards. Edwards promptly started a
separate klan in Maryland.

Since the initiation of UKA activity in Maryland, the committee
received evidence of the establishment of four separate units, with an
estimated active membership as of January 1967 of approximately 25
persons. The klaverns are listed on page 153 of this report.

NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY

The history of the UKA movement in New York is much the same
:is that of Pennsylvania. At approximately the same time that Frank-

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

houser was announced to be grand dragon of Pennsylvania, Daniel
Burros was named king kleagle (chief organizer) and acting grand
dragon of New York. Burros, like Frankhouser, had been a member
of the American Nazi Party.

The nucleus of the UKA organization in New York was composed
of individuals previously associated with Burros and Frankhouser in
pro-Nazi organizations.

Burros committed suicide in October 1965 at the home of Roy
Frankhouser. Burros was succeeded by King Kleagle William Hon,
also a former Nazi. The UKA has appointed no grand dragon for the
State, however, and Pennsylvania Grand Dragon Frankhouser has
been active in supervising recruitment in New York.

Since that time, attempts to organize an effective UKA operation
have been unsuccessful. The committee found evidence of only one
active klavern in the State of New York, with the bulk of its member-
ship from the Queens area of New York City. The active membership
as of January 1967 is estimated to be approximately 25,

UKA organizing in neighboring New Jersey was headed by Frank
W. Rotella, Jr. He was a close associate of Roy Frankhouser, the late
Daniel Burros, and William Hoff. The UKA's failure in New Jersey
is established by the fact that there were no klaverns active in the
State as of January 1967. Aside from Rotella and a handful of asso-
ciates — most of whom are from New York and Pennsylvania — there
does not appear to be any active membership.

An attempt by the UKA to hold a public rally in New Jersey in
May 1966 ended in failure when the scheduled featured speaker,
Robert Scoggin, South Carolina grand dragon, did not appear.

In June 1966, Rotella publicly announced he had resigned from the
leadership of the New Jersey klan because of time-consuming "per-
sonal commitments" which he refused to elaborate upon.

SUMMARY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF UKA
KLAVERNS AND MEMBERSHIP

As previously observed, the United Klans of America made some
attempt to establish active organizations in States other than the 17
referred to above.

In some States such as Indiana and Wisconsin, Imperial Wizard
Shelton publicly announced the appointments of grand dragons. How-
ever, the klan has only a handful of members in those States.

On the other hand, United Klans recruitment in the State of Michi-
gan—where a single klavern existed at the time of this committee's
public hearings — has registered noteworthy gains in recent months.
Continuing committee investigation has disclosed the existence of three
klaverns located at Detroit, Flint, and Taylor, Mich. As of March
1967, the klaverns had an overall membership of approximately 200.

The committee obtained evidence that the United Klans has received
and approved individual memberships in a number of other States not
named in this report. The committee had no information which would
indicate the existence of organized units of the United Klans in those
States, however.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

Following is a summary of the identified klaverns and estimated
membership of the United Klans of America in the States just
discussed :

Number of

klaverns

Estimated

operating at

active

State

one time or

membership

another in

as of

the period

January 1967

1964-66

Alabama

1,200

1,400

North Carolina

192

7,500

South Carolina

800

Florida-. _ ...

27
32

400
1,250

750

30
14
10

700
200
150

Arkansas . __

225

Ohio

Pennsylvania.
Delaware

Maryland

New York

New Jersey...
Michigan 2

Total, active
members, 17
States

Number of
klaverns
operating at
one time or
another in
the period
1964-66

Estimated

active
membership

esof
January 1967

(!)

100
50

100
25
25

200

15,075

1 Negligible.

2 Klaverns in existence and estimated membership as of March 1967.

The committee wishes to emphasize that the figure of 556 klaverns
shows the number of units which the committee found to be operative
at some time or another during the years 1964, 1965, and 1966. The
figure includes 56 ladies auxiliaries, the majority of which were located
in the State of North Carolina. The committee does not assert that
all of the klaverns continued to be active as of the end of 1966. Inves-
tigation established that the life of klaverns was erratic. Some are
short lived, others last for years. The latter type of klavern may also
have periods of great activity, followed by a period of dormancy. Nor
does the committee believe it has been able to identify all of the klay^-
erns established by the United Klans. The secrecy with which the
UKA operates on all levels makes the detection and identification of
local units extremely difficult.

The committee estimates the total UKA membership, excluding the
ladies auxiliaries, to be 15,075 as of January 1967. Its sources were
previously described. It has already called attention to the fluctuating
nature of klan membership. Increases in membership appeared in the
summer months when public klan activity was at its height. In the
winter, when the cow pastures were windy and cold, membership
tended to decline along with the klan's public activity. The committee
also found that, for many individuals, klan membership was a tempo-
rary aberration. Many members became inactive or dropped from the
klan after attending a few klan meetings and discovering that the
klan had nothing more to offer than talk and terror.

FINANCES OF THE UNITED KLANS OF AMERICA

The main continuing sources of funds for the United Klans of
America, as well as other klans, are (1) initiation fees; (2) dues; and
(3) proceeds from sale of robes and other paraphernalia. An equally
important source of funds for the United Klans and other klans which
schedule public rallies are donations milked from that portion of the
public which attends these rallies.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

An initiation fee (kleetokon 14 ) is usually paid by the prospective
member when he executes his application for membership. Although
the UKA constitution provides that the fee may range from $10 to
$25, the usual initiation fee has been $10. Recruiting is carried out
by a network of organizers called kleagles. When an individual signs
an application for membership and pays his kleetokon, the kleagle
has authority under the klan constitution to receive a share of the
kleetokon. The kleagle's "cut" is usually $3.

The amount of dues payable by each member of the United Klaus
varies from klavern to klavern. The average amount is $1.25 per
month. Of this $1.25 monthly dues payment, 50 cents is designated
as the imperial tax, 15 and is payable to the national headquarters of the
United Klans, located in Imperial Wizard Shelton's home in Tusca-
loosa, Ala. Twenty-five cents of each klansman's monthly dues pay-
ment, known as the realm tax, is payed to the State (realm) headquar-
ters. The remaining 50 cents stays in the local klavern.

Each member of the United Klans is required by the constitution to
obtain a robe and a hood through the klavern khgrapp. Committee
investigation showed that there is no one way that a klansman obtains
his robe.

Committee investigation into United Klans activity in North Caro-
lina, for example, disclosed that most klan robes were purchased
from the office of Grand Dragon James Robertson Jones. The
cost of a rank-and-file klansman's robe ranges from $10 to $15, depend-
ing upon the type of cloth used in the manufacture. The robes were
actually manufactured by klansmen's wives, and a sizable profit was
realized by the grand dragon, regardless of the material used in th?
robes. Robe income was handled as a separate financial transaction,
and proceeds were deposited into the personal bank account of the
grand dragon.

The committee found that the source of robes in the other realms
of the United Klans of America was the Heritage Garment Works of
Columbia, S.C., from which klansmen ordered robes directly. Direct
ordering appears to be customary in most States. Evidence obtained
by the committee indicates that Heritage Garment Works kicks back
to the imperial office of the United Klans a share of its profits from the
sale of robes. It is also known that certain pieces of jewelry, such as
lapel buttons, have been approved for sale by the imperial office and
profits from these sales have found their way into the imperial bank
account. The sale of phonograph records and literature has provided
additional income for the imperial office as well as Imperial Wizard
Shelton personally.

Contributions are customarily solicited from the audiences at public
rallies sponsored by the United Klans of America. Although the
committee believes that substantial sums have been netted by this pro-
cedure, the distribution of such funds is difficult to establish. The
committee's hearings contain documentation of a sizable income to
the UKA Realm of North Carolina as a result of public rallies, but

11 This klan term has been spelled in a variety of ways. Although originally spelled
"kleektokon" in the copyrighted laws of Simmons' klan, the constitutions of the present-
day United Klans and National Knights refer to initiation fees as "klectokons." The White
Knights refer to "klectokens," while the Original Knights have come up with "kolcck-
tokens."

15 Increased from 25 cents to 50 cents at the klonvokatlon held in Birmingham, Ala., in
September 1004.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

other beneficiaries are well concealed. There is every reason to believe
that the imperial wizard shares in this lucrative source of revenue.
His personal appearance is the drawing card at most klan rallies, and
the committee has evidence that Shelton has requested and received
"speaker's" fees. Nevertheless, the committee was unable to locate
cash deposits to either the imperial bank account of the United Klans
or Shelton's personal account which could be identified as proceeds
from klan rallies. Neither the United Klans as an organization, nor
its officers as individuals, have ever declared sums received from rallies
as income when filing Federal tax returns.

Funds solicited and received for the defense of klansmen arrested as
a result of murder, bombings, and other violent acts, likewise have not
been deposited into the imperial bank account. Funds for the de-
fendants in the Viola Liuzzo murder case were found to be concealed
in at least two separate accounts: the Whiteman's Defense Fund,
opened with a $1,000 check drawn against the imperial account of the
UKA, and the UKA Defense Fund. Money from various States for
defendants in the Lemuel Penn murder case was sent to the exalted
cyclops of a UKA klavern in Athens, Ga., Tom Whitehead. Although
the UKA contributed to the defense of the McComb, Miss., bombers
in 1964, the committee was unable to locate a bank account reflecting
disbursements for this purpose.

THE ALABAMA RESCUE SERVICE

The United Klans of America maintained its imperial account in a
Tuscaloosa, Ala., bank under the cover name, "Alabama Rescue Serv-
ice." Funds deposited in this account almost exclusively represented
the imperial tax (i.e., 50 cents of each klansman's monthly dues).

Beginning in May 1964, funds were disbursed from this account by
checks cosigned by Imperial Wizard Robert M. Shelton and Mrs.
Shelton, who used the alias "James J. Hendrix." Prior to the time
that Mrs. Shelton cosigned checks, Mrs. Carol Long, an imperial office
employee, performed the same function, using the alias "T. M.
Montgomery."

The UKA constitution provides that funds must be disbursed jointly
by the imperial wizard and the imperial klabee (treasurer). Neither
of the two women cosigning checks had ever held the office of treas-
urer ; nor has the committee been able to locate any individuals in the
United Klans who actually bore the name of Hendrix or Montgom-
ery. In spite of the public disclosure in October 1965 of this viola-
tion of the UKA constitution, Mrs. Shelton continued as late as May
1966 to sign checks with the name "James J. Hendrix." This dis-
bursement procedure meant that Shelton exercised sole control over
funds in the imperial account. It is apparent to the committee that
Shelton not only disbursed funds as he saw fit, but also disbursed
most of them to his personal advantage.

Rank-and-file members of the United Klans and realm officers who
were willing to divulge information to the committee pled ignorance as
I o the disposition of portions of initiation fees and dues payments sent
to higher klan authorities. KnoAvledge with respect to the disposition
of funds collected at klan rallies was similarly restricted to a small
clique of klan officials, who refused to divulge the secret when ques-
tioned by the committee in public hearings.

THE PRESENT DAY KIT EXiUX KLAN MOVEMENT

As previously stated, the committee obtained records of the bank
account of the Alabama Rescue Service (ARS) as well as the personal
account of Robert Shelton. Checks deposited in the Alabama Rescue
Service account were mainly from local klaverns and were made pay-
able to the ARS, UKA, or Shelton personally. A few checks deposited
in the ARS account were payable to The Fiery Cross, official UKA
publication, or to the UKA for a paperback publication dealing with
the Selma-Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march. However, most
checks for the paperback publication were deposited in Shelton's per-
sonal account.

Between February and May 1966, a total of $1,509 was deposited
in Shelton's personal bank account, which represented mostly $2
checks payable to Shelton, the UKA, or The Fiery Gross for paper-
back publications on civil rights demonstrations. However, there were
no withdrawals from Shelton's personal account which would indicate
payments to the publishing firms for the publications. The inference
is strong that UKA funds were used to purchase the booklets, which
were then resold to klansmen for Shelton's personal profit. On Febru-
ary 23 and April 12, 1966, Shelton drew checks against the Alabama
Rescue Service account in the amounts of $2,415 and $1,890, re-
spectively. The two checks 16 were payable to the American South-
ern Publishing Co. of Montgomery, Ala., which prints official UKA
literature such as The Fiery Cross. On April 12, 1966, the publish-
ing company in turn paid $1,077 to Shelton, who deposited the sum
in his personal bank account. The committee has no knowledge of the
type of services, if any, rendered by Shelton to the American Southern
Publishing Co.

Recent withdrawals from the Alabama Rescue Service account for
the purpose of compensating present national klan officers are ex-
tremely revealing.

On April 12, 1966, the imperial wizard wrote a check to cash in
the amount of $6,000 with the notation that it was "Accumulated
Salary — 1965." On May 7, 1966, Shelton wrote checks to himself and
the imperial kligrapp (secretary), Melvin Sexton; each check was
in the amount of $196.81. On May 13, 1966, Shelton again wrote
checks in the same amount payable to himself and Sexton. It appears
that, as of May 7, 1966, the imperial wizard and imperial kligrapp
began drawing weekly salaries of $196.81. This rate of compensation
from klan dues would provide them with annual salaries in excess
of $10,000.

Alabama Regcite Service

Suite 401. The Alston huii.dii;o
tuscaloosa. aladama

911

Tutb February 1 3
American Southern Pab.Tiahin^' Company

1!)A 6
.S_2»415,..09

Two-Thousand &. Four-hundred & Fifteen and 00/100-

The First National Bank

OF TUSKALOOSA
TUSKALOOSA. ALABAMA

►i:o&si»'00?oi:

?» See bottom of this pnRo and pp. 41, 42 for the reproduction of tlioso and other ehecIcH
Hubnequently referred l<> I" <hln Heel Ion.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

Alabama Rescue Service

Sui'ru 401, Tire Alston Building

7*USCA r ,OOSA, ^LArUTplA,

T>AT« A f ril 12

American Southern Pi'blif hin^ Company

948

\
<j l.S po. 00 &

ft Ona-thousand-Eiflht-hundred & Ninety and 00 /100 -l>oi.i. A

J ALABAMA. RESCUE SERVICE

e The First National Batik -^- v"" . :~y;y J/^~^

5 TUSKALOOSA, ALABAMA

t F.C.

>i:oe,si"'DD?oi:

« — pj^&A-i-.>.^s£ |

/ooooiasooo.''

AMERICAN SOUTHERN PUBLISHING CO., INC.

".': - P. O . Box 408

-^ ',"■.*■ - . . NORTHP-OKT. .

; -pusu5H!»js ccvXO 7, IDOLS QQ CTS

N° 191

" . • _£M3£ I

e l, 077 00 ~>

Robert M. Shelton ."^

orrr national bank

OF HIHSHNGITAM ■..
BmMIKOHAir. ALABAMA .

O^oq. (Q_^., Qi: : '

:i:o&eo>»o.3.i: ' . " ao a—tna-aii"

Alabama Rescue Service

Suite iOl, The Alfton builuino
Tuscaloosa, Alad/ ma

The First National Bank

OF TUSKALOOSA
TUSKALOOSA. ALABAMA

Accumulated Salary-1965

«-i:o&2.»'OQ70i: ^

Alabama Kj;y uu v. Serticr

Suite 401, Tub Alston Jiuildino

tu3calo03... alahama

Date May 7

pliK'ifniF Robe rt M. Shelto n ■ ,-i jj}^_

One-hundred & Ninety-six and 81/100 £k.«i&

The First National Bank

OF TUSKALOOSA
TUSKALOOSA, ALABAMA'

in 66
g 196.81

978

S1.7Q

""H5T"

ZZZTJIT. Dollawm

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

r™

Alabama Rescue Service

suite 401, The Alston Builbinu
Tuscaloosa. Aladaha

a, 4«f he Melvin Sexton
■ lyi'OKHor

May 7

One-hundred & Ninety-six- ,and 8X^1 °0

The First National Bark

'*r OF TUSKALOOSA

TUSKALOOSA, ALABAMA

Alabama Resgue Service

981

Robert M. Shelton?

n». "ay 13

One-hundred & Ninety-six and fll/100 — T**S =r rtnT

s 196.81

The First National Bank

OP TUSKALOOSA
TUSKALOOSA. ALABAMA

►i:d&3i«>oo?oi:

Alabama Rescue Service

. Suite 401", The Alston BuruiiNG.

' Tuscuoosa, /I latum/

II a -rit May 11

piflg.. . Melvin Sexton ^ ' ■■S ..":■ _ ;■ ;
One - hundred & Ninety-alx and fil/lOO--

980

__$.

196.81

The First National Bank

OFTUSKALOCOA /

TUSKALOOSA. ALABAMA" 6

968

Alabama Rescue Sehvioe

Sum: 401, THE ALSTON BUILDING
TUSCALOOSA. ALABAMA

The First National Bank

OF TUSKALOOSA
TUSKALOOSA. ALABAMA

>i:o6 2.»oo?oi:

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT 43

This compensation, of course, does not reflect distribution of funds
received at hundreds of public rallies held throughout the South by
the United Klans of America. Nor does it include checks which Shel-
ton has drawn against the Alabama Rescue Service account to pav
purely personal obligations. 17 p y

The committee's investigation documented the fact that the United
Klans of America, Inc., was guilty of tax evasion in failing to report
total income. Because of the secret nature of the klan, funds which
it obtains are extremely difficult to trace. However, the committee did
establish that during fiscal year ending June 30, 1965, Shelton re-
ported on a Federal corporate income tax return that UKA income
from all sources was only $18,487.60. Yet UKA's principal bank
account, concealed under the name of the Alabama Rescue Service,
alone received deposits of $18,036.95. If Shelton had reported, as he
should have, the income of klaverns and realms, an accurate return
would have reflected a gross income in excess of $100,000

Shelton in a sense acknowledged this obligation when he was
interviewed by a Federal internal revenue agent after this committee

Stated Shel7on W *** r6tUmS ° f **"* UKA ' S NOrth Carolina Realm -

r,^tlJ? e l lm , ° f N ? r - th Carolina is sim Ply a geographic subdivision of the
national chapter and is used only to identify a given area; that is, the State of

^SS^i^S^ mguan ^ and has D0 funds > inco -' « *™

« lr ir Spi i e £ f ^ to ^ s statement, the committee found that funds of
the North Carolina Realm of the UKA were deposited into three sep-
arate bank accounts m North Carolina. An analysis of these accounts

^ a^cL^P 08 ™- d ^ ring the fiscal y ear endin £ J un e 30, 1965,
totaled $14,808.25 This figure does not include income retained by the
local klaverns in North Carolina. Excluding robe income, the committee
conservatively estimates gross income of klaverns in North Carolina—
trom initiation fees, dues, and fundraising activities— to be an addi-
tional $40,000 for the 1965 fiscal year.

* J^Sf ' S ^° SS inCOrne for the fiscal y ear 1965 would, therefore, exceed
a A 2 . xi g / oss , mc °™ of only one realm, North Carolina, were
added to the funds deposited into the national Alabama Rescue
Service account.

The income of the North Carolina Realm was derived chiefly from
passing the hat" at public klan rallies in that State. From inter-
views and testimony the committee is convinced that the funds re-
flected m the realm's accounts do not even constitute all of the income
from that source. Klan leaders on both National and State levels
have unquestionably taken their share off the top of the stacks of
greenbacks before deposits are made. Because this income is in cash,
the exact amount received is impossible to establish.

In view of an upsurge in klan activity prior to committee hearings,
the committee estimates that the UKA's gross income during the first

SiS?2S S ? - SCal yea / 19 ? 6 (Le -' ^-December 1965) equaled its
$100,000-plus income for the entire preceding fiscal year.

198421 A Tn-^nJlS?™ *5 h *Ui tcm wrote A cneck to P"kms Cabinet Shop in the amount of
cabinet S hwis P owned hv S'nW from t he na «™ ft l klan account is not known. The

^StiSSSSA^S^vSi& B2S& ESSE?* ldentlfled ln thls report as the lraperIal

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Mississippi

As previously noted, the Original Knights of Louisiana created an
organization in Mississippi in the fall of 1963 which was soon wracked
with internal dissension. When the top Mississippi officers, Douglas
Byrd and Edward L. McDaniel, were expelled in December 1963, the
Mississippi section of the Original Knights became practically
inoperative.

Committee investigation has revealed that in February 1964 ap-
proximately 200 former members of the Mississippi section of the
Original Knights met at Brookhaven, Miss., under the leadership of
Byrd and formed the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Missis-
sippi. The avowed aim of the White Knights was to promote white
supremacy and to maintain segregation of the races.

By April 1964, according to the committee's investigation, direction
of the White Knights was in the hands of Imperial Wizard Sam Hol-
loway Bowers, Jr. The office at 820 South Fourth Avenue in Laurel,
Miss., which Bowers used for his business ventures involving vending
machines and real estate, also served as headquarters for the White
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Other high-ranking White Knights officers at this time were Grand
Dragon Julius Harper, of Crystal Springs, Miss. ; Grand Giant Billy
Buckles, of Eoxie ; State Organizer A. C. Herrington, of Buth ; Ernest
S. Gilbert, of Brookhaven, chief of the Klan Bureau of Investigation ;
and Paul Foster, of Natchez, grand kludd (chaplain) .

organizational structure

The White Knights adopted a constitution 1S which provided for
an organizational structure quite distinct from that of other klans,
past and present. The constitution restricts White Knights opera-
tions to the State of Mississippi in contrast to other klan constitu-
tions which allowed for development into a national organization.

The appearance of a democratically run organization was created
by constitutional provisions for a White Knights legislature con-
sisting of two parliamentary bodies — the klanburgesses and the
klonvocation. The klanburgesses, consisting of all klansmen in good
standing, had the exclusive authority to call the upper house — the
klonvocation — into session. The lower house also had power to deter-
mine the agenda for the klonvocation, which could be convened to
elect top klan officers, fix dues rates, or enact laws and constitutional
amendments. Their system of government is not duplicated in any
other klan organization.

The White Knights klonvocation, in session, would be somewhat
similar to the klonvokations (national conventions) of other klans.
Delegates to a White Knights klonvocation were called senators and
only one senator could be elected from each Mississippi county no mat-
ter how many White Knights units were located therein. Other klan
constitutions generally authorized every klavern to send delegates to
national conventions.

Committee investigations uncovered no evidence that senators were
ever actually elected and a White Knights klonvocation convened.

11 Reproduced as exhibit in the appendix to this report, p. 258.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

The committee does have knowledge of many meetings attended by
White Knights officers on province, congressional district, and State
levels at which officers were elected, funds allocated, and the constitu-
tion revised in violation of procedures spelled out in the klan's
constitution.

Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers has constantly referred to the White
Knights as a kind of military operation and it is apparent to the com-
mittee that the organization functions in fact according to military
rather than democratic procedures, with Bowers all powerful in the
role of commander in chief.

The official hierarchy of the White Knights was smaller than other
klans and a different nomenclature was employed. The imperial wiz-
ard was assisted on a State level by a grand dragon, grand giant, grand
chaplain, and grand director of the Klan Bureau of Investigation.
The klan organization within the State was successively divided into
congressional districts, provinces (a combination of counties), and
klaverns.

The grand director of the Klan Bureau of Investigation coordinates
the work of province investigators and klavern investigators (known
within the klavern as the klokan), in addition to a number of "execu-
tive" investigators who are appointed by and report to the imperial
wizard.

These White Knights investigators are the eyes and ears of the klan.
They investigate members whose actions are suspicious, particularly
watching for those who might be supplying information to law en-
forcement agencies, Federal and State. Outside the klan, they investi-
gate persons and organizations active in civil rights activities and rec-
ommend harassment such as cross burnings or acts of violence such as
beatings, burnings and bombings. As White Knights officers, the in-
vestigators may authorize and even participate in acts of violence.
However, acts of extermination (murder) require the approval of the
imperial wizard, who is supposed to obtain the advice and counsel of
the grand chaplain. Within the United Klans of America, the afore-
mentioned investigative functions are assigned to klokann committees
and intelligence committees.

The oath administered to White Knights recruits also differed from
that of other klans. For example, a member of the White Knights
flatly limited his support of the Constitution of the United States
of America to the document "as originally written." He swore, in
addition, to die to preserve "Christian civilization." A White Knight
also bound himself "unto my grave" never to be the cause of a breach
of secrecy or any other act which might be detrimental to the integrity
of the White Knights.

While the usual klan oath exempts a klansman from his pledge of
secrecy when murder, rape, and treason is involved (in language but
not in practice) , the White Knights allowed no exceptions. However,
qualifications for membership in the White Knights proscribe mem-
bership by those who have ever engaged in acts of murder, rape, or
treason.

Committee investigation of the various klans established that much
of the language in such documents as constitutions and membership
oaths is mere window dressing. Only a few provisions, such as protec-
tion of the secrecy of the klans, are actually enforced.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Ironically, the White Knights alleged dedication to the Constitution
of the United States "as originally written" did not prevent them from
relying on constitutional amendments to challenge various criminal
indictments of White Knights members. The White Knights, in fact,
had urged dismissal of indictments on the ground that Negroes were
excluded from the juries handing down the indictments. Imperial
Wizard Bowers and more than two dozen other individuals identified
as officers or members of the White Knights also continually invoked
a combination of amendments to the U.S. Constitution as justification
for refusing to answer questions during this committee's public inves-
tigative hearings in January and February 1966.

GROWTH AND DECLINE OF THE WHITE KNIGHTS

After its formation, the influence of the White Knights spread
rapidly through the State. Klaverns were established m approxi-
mately one-half of the State's 82 counties. At the zenith of its power
in the fall of 1964, the White Knights could claim a total of approxi-
mately 6,000 active members.

Unlike other major Man organizations, the White Knights has been
so extremely secret in its operations that it has never been known to
sponsor public rallies or functions, and none of its leaders will admit
publicly to any association with the organization. The elaborate se-
curity regulations adopted by the White Knights to protect its mem-
bers and units from detection by outsiders are described in the follow-
ing chapter. 19 The organization has also placed great emphasis on
so-called intelligence operations which involve gathering information
on the klan's "enemies," as well as those within the klan who might be
security risks. Every klansman was called upon to engage in such
intelligence work and report his findings to a klavern "investigator"
who had the responsibility of transmitting the information to higher
klan authorities.

Although the White Knights dominated the Mississippi klan move-
ment, by September 1964 they were being challenged by organizers
for the United Klans of America. As previously noted, 20 defections
from the White Knights to the United Klans steadily mounted dur-
ing the summer and fall of 1964 through the leadership of Edward
L. McDaniel. McDaniel, heretofore a province investigator for the
White Knights, was recognized at the United Klans national klonvo-
kation in Birmingham in September 1964 as grand dragon of the
UKA's new Mississippi Realm.

Between May 1964 and the opening of this committee's hearings in
October 1965, whole klaverns previously affiliated with the White
Knights had transferred their allegiance to the United Klans. Con-
tinuing committee investigation revealed that, as of January 1967,
membership of the White Knights had dropped to an estimated 400
members.

The White Knights membership losses appeared to be due princi-
pally to (1) the challenge of the United Klans with its superior or-
ganizational ability and systematic use of public rallies to espouse the
klan cause, and (2) the publicly disclosed involvement of the White

» See p. 69.
» See p. 80.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Knights in acts of violence such as bombings, beatings, burnings, and
murder during the years 1964-1966. Although the violent image
of the White Knights was a factor in many switches to the United
Klans, the committee discovered that a number of violence-prone mem-
bers of the White Knights had actually gone over to the United Klans
on the grounds that the White Knights was not militant enough.

The White Knights utilized front organizations and other devices
to conceal klan activity from public view. The White Christian Pro-
tective and Legal Defense Fund was a front organization created and
completely controlled by the White Knights. It was publicly adver-
tised as a vehicle to collect funds for the legal defense of those persons
arrested in connection with the murder of three civil rights workers
near Philadelphia, Miss., in July 1964. The bulk of the funds, in
fact, went to finance operations of the White Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan.

Another front organization of the White Knights was WASP, Inc.,
advertised as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the Christian-
American heritage. The initials stood for White Anglo-Saxon Prot-
estant. WASP reportedly was designed to enlist persons in the State
who were sympathetic to the aims of the White Knights but who could
not afford to be linked with a klan organization. One of the mimeo-
graphed bulletins circulated publicly as a service of WASP, Inc., was
a lengthy litany of hate against Jews. 21

The White Knights used the cover name "Mississippi White
Caps" 22 on mimeographed bulletins distributed publicly in an effort to
discredit individuals and organizations considered hostile to the klan's
white supremacist objectives. White Knights documents which are ex-
hibits to this report show that all local units were expected to write,
print, and distribute "propaganda" as one of their "primary" func-
tions. The klan's "intelligence" work provided the material for its
printed propaganda. Elaborate precautions were taken to forestall
disclosure of the source of the publications. A White Knights direc-
tive indicated that the klan considered propaganda "a weapon of mod-
ern war'' which could serve to destroy its enemies "socially" and
"economically." The importance of this weapon was described thusly :

The importance of Propaganda in this struggle simply cannot be overempha-
sized. If we can mould and maintain favorable public opinion, we can attain our
objective, God God (sic) Willing. If we permit our enemies and opponents to con-
vince the public that THEY are Good, and WE are Bad, we will eventually lose,
regardless of how many of the enemy that we kill. 23

Committee investigation uncovered the names and locations of 52
klaverns which were established bv the White Knights in the State
of Mississippi in the period 1964-66. They are listed on page 163 of
this report. In view of the previously noted membership losses, many
of the listed klaverns are no longer in existence, and a number of the
klaverns are currently affiliates of the United Klans of America.

is reproduced as an exhibit in the appendix,

21 This bulletin in the name of WASP, Inc.
pp. 293. 294.

nr,^^ W0 " pa ^ K b "o 1 J?J :il1 issued by the Mississippi White Caps appears as an exhibit in the

+ . S8 4 e i?il 3x t cu , ti ^ Lecture of Mar - h 1964, in appendix, pp. 164-168. Some of the effects of
the White Knights propaganda campaign.. which generally involved scurrilous charges im-
pugning the honesty and morals of individuals opposed by the klan, are described in eh. VI,

pp. 1UU 1 , 101.

48 THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

The Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Prior to 1960, there had been no effective klan activity in the State
of Louisiana for several decades. The klan was reactivated in Louisi-
ana late in 1960 by Roy E. Davis of Dallas, Texas. Although he held
the title of imperial wizard of the Original Ku Klux Klan, Davis
actually exercised little leadership over the Louisiana section of his
organization during the brief period Tie remained in the imperial
wizardship.

Direction of the new Louisiana klan rested with J. D. Swenson of
Bossier City, La., who was the national kleagle (organizer) as well
as grand dragon. Swenson in turn recruited another Louisianan,
Koyal V. Young, who was appointed to a succession of offices culminat-
ing in that of imperial dragon in early 1963. 24

The avowed purpose of the Louisiana klan, which is also referred to
as the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was to promote "Ameri-
canism" and white supremacy and to maintain segregation of the
races. 25

Up to the fall of 1963, the Original Knights confined their activities
and recruiting to the State of Louisiana. Thereafter, they moved into
Arkansas and Mississippi.

In Mississippi, under the direction of J. D. Swenson, some 300 Mis-
sissippians joined the Original Knights and prospects for further re-
cruiting in the State of Mississippi seemed bright. In Arkansas, the
Original Knights formed some klaverns in the area of El Dorado and
Crockett but never gained much of a foothold in that State.

Within Louisiana itself, the Original Knights attained considerable
strength in three separate areas of the State : the area surrounding the
cities of Shreveport and Bossier City, the area of Monroe, and an
area roughly corresponding to the limits of the State's Sixth Congres-
sional District, which included the city of Bogalusa.

Dissension over the personal profits being made by Swenson and
Young developed within the ranks of the Original Knights starting
in 1963. In December 1963, Douglas Byrd, who had been appointed
temporary grand dragon of the Mississippi Realm of the Original
Knights, and another Mississippi officer, Edward L. McDaniel, were
expelled by Swenson. Byrd and McDaniel had charged Swenson with
pocketing the profits from the sale of klan robes. Swenson's expul-
sion order against his two Mississippi officers accused them of slander-
ing and threatening klan leaders and encouraging a revolt against
klan rules. The bulk of the Original Knights membership in Missis-
sippi followed Byrd early in 1964 into a new organization named the
White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

DISSENSION LEADS TO THREE-WAT SPLIT

24 Young testified before the committee on July 28, 1965, In an executive session later
made public.

25 A constitution adopted by the Original Knights is reproduced as an exhibit in the
apnendix to this report. See pp. 297-319.

Basic klan documents such as the constitution, printed membership application blanks
and recruiting literature carry the simple title, "Original Ku Klux Klan." Following the
ouster of Swenson and Young from the klan leadership early in 1964, the new leaders
commonly referred to the organization as the "Original Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana" and
that title is found on printed hate literature Issued by the klan during 1965 and early 1966.

The Louisiana klan is also frequently referred to as the Original Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan and this title is used by the committee in Its public investigative hearings as
well as In this report.

The internal strife within the organization in Louisiana led to the
removal, early in 1964, of Eoyal V. Young and J. D. Swenson on
charges of misappropriating klan funds for their personal use. Dur-
ing the Young-Swenson administration, the Original Knights had
maintained bank accounts under the cover name, "Louisiana Eifle
Association."

Murry H. Martin and Billy Skipper moved into the command of
the Original Knights with the understanding that elections for per-
manent officers of the faction-ridden organization would be held in 6
months. Houston P. Morris, one of the lesser officials, was given as-
surances that he would obtain top office when elections were held.
Martin's faction, committee investigation revealed, used the interven-
ing months to consolidate its control and eliminate any influence by
Morris and his supporters. The result was a three-way split in the
organization in the fall of 1964.

Houston P. Morris withdrew his forces, largely located in the area
of Monroe, La., and started a new organization known as the Original
Ku Klux Klan of America, Inc. Incorporation papers for the Mon-
roe-based group, headed by "Imperial Wizard" Morris, were filed
with the Louisiana secretary of state on January 26, 1965. 26 By late
April, Morris had withdrawn from direction of the new klan. In
June 1965, Morris and the bulk of the membership joined Shelton's
United Klans of America. The Original Ku Klux Klan of America,
Inc., nevertheless still managed to maintain a separate existence as of
the fall of 1965.

A second faction which operated independently after splitting away
from Murry Martin's organization in the fall of 1964 was headed by
Grand Dragon Charles Christmas, of Amite, La., and Grand Titan
Saxon Farmer, of Bogalusa. It is composed of the Original Knights
membership within the Sixth Congressional District of Louisiana, in-
cluding Bogalusa. 27 This group adopted the cover name, "Anti-Com-
munist Christian Association." Articles of incorporation for the
ACCA were notarized on December 1, 1964, and filed with the secre-
tary of state.

The United Klans organizing drive in Louisiana in 1965 succeeded
in recruiting most of the membership away from the Sixth Congres-
sional District faction of the Original Knights. Most prominent con-
vert to the United Klans was the faction's second-ranking officer,
Saxon Farmer.

The section of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan which
remained loyal to Grand Dragon Murry H. Martin drew most of its
membership from the Shreveport-Bossier City area of the State.
When Martin took over the organization early in 1964, the klan
adopted the cover name "Christian Constitutional Crusaders" to con-
ceal its financial transactions with local banks. Following the three-
way split in the Original Knights in the fall of 1964, Martin's sec-
tion of the klan continued to use the same cover name. Eepresent-

M Sfce exhibit in appendix, pp. 320-&24.
ht,!L£° !?T St i? eu1 !? l his £ roUp f I am tllc Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan headed by
Murry Martin, it has been referred to in the committee's hearings as the Sixth Con-
gressional District faction of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

atives of this faction of the Original Knights attend meetings of
the National Association of Ku Klux Klan headed by James Venable.
Leadership has remained in the hands of Grand Dragon Martin, as-
sisted by Billy Skipper and P. L. Morgan. Membership has been
declining since 1964, however, and many of the klaverns affiliated with
the Martin faction have become inactive.

The committee interrogated past and present officers of all factions
of the Original Knights during its public investigative hearings in
1965-66. By the time the hearings opened in October 1965, however,
the United Klans of America had superseded the Original Knights
as the predominant klan in the State of Louisiana.

The Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan had reached the height
of its power in the summer of 1964 when it could claim approximate-
ly 1,000 members. The committee estimates that, as of January 1967,
the total membership of all the factions of the Original Knights did
not exceed 250.

The 46 klaverns which the committee discovered to have operated at
one time or another in the period 1964-66 as affiliates of the Original
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are listed on pages 147, 148 of this
report.

National Knights or the Ku Klux Klan

Records of the Superior Court of DeKalb County, Ga., show that the
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., received its corporate
charter on November 1, 1963, as an alleged patriotic, secret and benevo-
lent order.

Original incorporators of this organization were William Hugh
Morris, of Buchanan, Ga.; H. G. Hill, of Atlanta; Wally Butter-
worth, whose address at that time was Stone Mountain, Ga. ; and
James R. Venable, also of Stone Mountain. 28 Headquarters of the
National Knights is located on the second floor of the Carl Garman
Building in Tucker, Ga.

Committee investigation established that the prime movers in estab-
lishing the National Knights as a corporate organization were James
R. Venable, the imperial wizard since its incorporation, and Wallace
Butterworth.

Venable, according to his own testimony before this committee, 29
first became a member of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1924 and
has been associated with one or another klan organization ever since.
After the dissolution of the Knights in 1944, Venable was a member
of the Association of Georgia Klans; the Federated Ku Klux Klans
led by William Hugh Morris; the U.S. Klans; and the United Klans
of America, Inc. With the U.S. Klans and the United Klans, Venable
held the title of "imperial klonsel" (legal adviser). As imperial
klonsel of the United Klans, Venable from the period 1961 to late 1962
also served on the imperial board of the organization.

Investigation of the background of Wallace Butterworth revealed
he at one time held the position of public relations director of the
United Klans of America. As such he was also a member of the im-
perial board.

28 The articles of incorporation are reproduced as an exhibit In the appendix, pp. 325-328.
28 Venable testified in executive session on Oct. 0, 106,5, and in public session on Feb. 15,
1006. His executive- testimony was subsequently made public.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

national association or ku klux klan

At some time between 1961 and the incorporation of the National
Knights in 1963, both Venable and Butterworth broke with the
United Klans of America and concentrated their efforts on attempting
to unite all klan groups under their leadership. As early as the year
I960, Venable had participated in meetings along with William Hugh
Morris and other klan leaders to explore possibilities of forming a
monolithic klan movement along the lines of the Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan. Such efforts have had no success to date because the
largest of the klan groups, the United Klans of America, has never
shown interest in losing its identity by a merger with other klans.
> Merger efforts did result in the creation in the early 1960's of a Na-
tional Association of Ku Klux Klan, 30 over which Venable has served
as "chairman" in recent years. This is nothing more than a loosely
knit federation of small autonomous klans. Members of the associa-
tion at present or in the recent past include the Association of Ar-
kansas Klans ; the Association of Georgia Klans ; the Association of
South Carolina Klans; Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan;
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. ; Original Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan; U.S. Klans; and the United Florida Ku Klux
Klan.

Delegates from each member klan are supposed to meet three times
each year. On September 6, 1964, the association elected the follow-
ing slate of officers: James R. Venable, chairman; P. L. Morgan, of
the Original Knights in Louisiana, klaliff; I. T. (Ted) Shearouse,
Jr., of the Association of Georgia Klans, kligrapp and klabee ; Charles
H. Maddox, of the Association of Georgia Klans, klokard; H. G.
Hill, of the National Knights, kludd; Walter Rogers, of the United
Florida Ku Klux Klan, kladd; Flynn Harvey, of National Knights,
klarogo; Robert E. Hodges, of the Association of South Carolina
Klans, night-hawk. A short time later, Murry H. Martin, of the
Original Knights of Louisiana, was appointed klokann chief for the
association.

SCOPE OF NATIONAL KNIGHTS LIMITED

The National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan apparently began oper-,
ating as an independent organization some time prior to its actual
incorporation on November 1, 1963. Butterworth left the organization
in 1964. The imperial kloncilium (council) of the National Knights
was composed in 1965 of Imperial Wizard Venable, H. G. Hill, im-
perial kludd, and William Hugh Morris, imperial klaliff. 31

The National Knights organized klaverns in the States of Georgia,
North Carolina, Ohio, Alabama, and Louisiana. The klan is a loose-
knit organization, especially outside of the State of Georgia. Little
leadership appears to be exerted by Venable outside of Georgia.

The klan is relatively ineffective and membership has always been
small. As of January 1967, the committee estimates that the National

Kr.rT^^^** 011 * has , also been referred to by. ita leaders as the National Association of
. w^ x ^Sn * A merica and the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Association.
When William Hugh Morris appeared as a witness in the committee's public investiKa-

of thcXt"onaTK^ghts ' ' ° te8tified that he WaS n ° longer a member of the kloncilium

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan had a membership of approximately
100.

Committee investigation established the existence of 11 separate
klaverns of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan located as
follows : North Carolina, one klavern ; Georgia, four klaverns ; Ala-
bama, one klavern ; Louisiana, two klaverns ; and Ohio, three klaverns.

The State of North Carolina has issued to the National Knights a
certificate of authority to do business in that State. The State of
Ohio, after issuing a charter to the National Knights, later revoked
that charter in an effort to stop klan operations in that State. 32 The
National Knights during 1964 and 1965 had made a concerted effort
to establish themselves as the main klan organization in Ohio. Na-
tional Knights succeeded in creating at least three klaverns located at
Columbus, Cincinnati, and Oregonia, Ohio. As of January 1967, how-
ever, these units were to all intents and purposes inactive. Parkie
Scott, of Oregonia, is the nominal organizer for Venable in Ohio.

Despite his protestations that only men of good character are ac-
cepted as members of the National Knights, James Venable recruited
into his organization two individuals with unsavory records who be-
came his chief organizers. The individuals were Colbert Raymond
McGriff, who was expelled from the United Klans of America after
a shooting incident in Griffin, Ga., described in detail in another sec-
tion of this report, and Earl Holcombe, whose record begins with
violent demonstrations at the University of Georgia while still a mem-
ber of the U.S. Klans.

Under the leadership of McGriff and Holcombe, a small violence-
prone group was organized within the National Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan. Membership and activities of this group, known as the
Black Shirts, were supposed to remain extremely secret. Committee
investigation revealed that members of the Black Shirts of the Na-
tional Knights of the Ku Klux Klan included such men as Joseph
Howard Sims and Cecil Myers who, while members of the United
Klans, were charged with the murder of Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn in
July 1964.

Venable denies any knowledge of the existence of this hard-core
group within his National Knights. He nevertheless was aware of the
background of Holcombe and McGriff when he entrusted them with
positions of responsibility within his organization. They have served
on his degree team which administers oaths to prospective klansmen,
and have been given charters and membership applications to orga-
nize on behalf of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Soon after the incident in which McGriff and other klansmen were
involved in Griffin, Ga., in April 1964, a group led bv McGriff and
John Max Mitchell was formed in the area of Barnesville, Ga. This
group was known as the Vigilantes. The Vigilantes, during their
operation, espoused acts of violence against Negroes. They later
formed the nucleus of a klavern of the National Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan located in Barnesville, Ga.

33 The application for a certificate of authority to do business in the State of North Caro-
lina, filed July 29, 1965, and articles of incorporation filed in the State of Ohio on Oct. 5,
1964 (and revoked by the secretary of state on Oct. 21, 1964), are reproduced as exhibltR
in the appendix, pp. 329-331, 332-334.

THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

KNIGHTS OP THE KU KLUX KLAN

In the summer of 1965, what appeared to be a new klan was sponsor-
ing rallies and recruiting members in the State of Ohio under the
announced leadership of William Hugh Morris. The organization
was called the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. It gave the public
appearance of being an independent klan organization.

Committee investigation established, however, that the Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan was cronled at a meeting of the National Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., in Tucker, Ga., in April 1965. At this
meeting— attended by National Knights officers James Venable, Wil-
liam Hugh Morris, H. G. Hill, and others— discussion indicated that
the formation of an unincorporated Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
was motivated by a desire to avoid possible legal problems confront-
ing an incorporated klan organization. For example, delegates to
the meeting were reportedly convinced that this committee's investi-
gation of klan organizations would not extend to the subpenaing of
unincorporated klan groups. 33

At the meeting which established the Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan, Morris was named "Imperial Wizard" (although he publicly
used the title, "Imperial Emperor") and James Venable accepted the
position of treasurer and legal counsel.

The only operations actually conducted in the name of the Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan were in the State of Ohio under the direction
of Morris and Venable, assisted by other individuals actually holding
membership in the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.

As previously noted, the secretary of state in Ohio had revoked the
Ohio charter of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., in

1964. The committee obtained a copy of a letter written by Venable on
July 8, 1965, to an official of the National Knights in Ohio. This letter
clearly revealed that the use of the name "Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan" was no more than a legal contrivance of the National Knights.
Venable wrote :

* * * Since the charter of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was
revolked (sic) in Ohio we cannot legally operate there in that name therefore
Mr. Morris is operating under the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan which is not a
chartered organization, just an association.

The committee was not surprised, therefore, that individuals asso-
ciated with the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Ohio were also con-
sidered to be members of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Investigation further disclosed that the Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan had for all practical purposes ceased to operate by the fall of

1965. This does not preclude the possibility that this organization, or
a similar unchartered association, will be utilized by klan leaders in
the future to circumvent technicalities of the law.

OTHER ENTERPRISES BY VENABLE

James R. Venable, with the assistance of Wally Butterworth, created
a number of organizations which might most appropriately be de-

M When this committee subpenaed William Hugh Morris as a witness in its public inves-
tigative hearings, it nevertheless called upon Morris to produce all books, records, etc., of
I lie jirorcriiontioned Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Morris informed the committee that he
did not have any records of the organization in his possession or control.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

scribed as "fronts" for the ku klux Man. The deceptive titles of the
organizations were undoubtedly aimed at reaching citizens who would
reject an approach by an acknowledged klan.

The organizations were the Defensive Legion of Eegistered Ameri-
cans, Inc., chartered by the State of Georgia on April 11, 1962; a sub-
sidiary of the legion known as the Christian Voters & Buyers
League ; 04 and the Committee of One Million Caucasians To March on
Congress, organized in February 1964.

Through the Defensive Legion of Registered Americans, Venable
and Butterworth engaged in the period 1962-64 in an anti-Negro and
anti-Jewish propaganda campaign. The campaign was based on the
production and sale of printed publications and phonograph records,
as well as broadcasts by Butterworth over a radio station in Atlanta,
Ga. Literature circulated in the name of the Defensive Legion urged
"patriots" to buy rifles, shotguns, pistols, walkie-talkies, and food sup-
plies for the forthcoming "war" to "take back our country" from a
"tyrannical" government. "Blood will surely flow," the Legion
asserted, adding "Let it flow !" Phonograph records narrated by But-
terworth also called upon citizens to arm themselves and prepare to
serve in a "citizens militia."

The Committee of One Million Caucasians To March on Congress
proposed a mass descent on the Nation's Capital on July 4, 1964, to
"wrest control of the U.S. Government from the Communist hands of
foreign Asiatic Jews and African Negroes * * *." Although Venable
actually arrived in Washington on that July 4th weekend, the march
fizzled. Contributing to its failure were disagreements between Ven-
able and Butterworth over arrangements for the march, and the intru-
sion in the affair of George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party.

The Defensive Legion of Registered Americans, Inc., the Christian
Voters & Buyers League, and the Committee of One Million Cauca-
sians To March on Congress all became defunct in 1964, principally
as a result of the parting of the ways of James Venable and Wally
Butterworth.

The United Florida Ku Klux Klan

The United Florida Ku Klux Klan was created at a meeting at
Orlando, Fla., on June 25, 1961, at which two previously independent
klan groups were merged into a single unit.

Merged were the Florida Ku Klux Klan and the United Ku Klux
Klan which hitherto had competed for members in the State of
Florida.

The Florida KKK, whose origin dates back to 1955, sent delegates
to meet with representatives of the United Ku Klux Klan, which at
the time was an organization made up of some of the remnants of the
Florida Realm of the U.S. Klans. Members of the U.S. Klan's Flo-
rida Realm had been in a state of confusion since the death of Imperial
Wizard Eldon Edwards in August 1960. The United Ku Klux Klan
preferred a merger with the Florida KKK to joining forces with the

34 The charter of the Defensive Legion of Registered Americans, in which Venable held
the office of president and Butterworth served as secretary, is reproduced as an exhibit in
the appendix, pp. 395-338.

One of the propaganda campaigns of the subsidiary Christian Voters & Buyers League
is discussed In some detail In eh. V of this report, p. J)i2.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

then newly formed United Klans of America. It appears that there
was a reluctance on the part of the members of the two Florida klans
to pay dues to an organization having headquarters outside of the
State of Florida.

As a result of the June 1961 convention, Jason E. Kersey, of Sam-
sula, Fla., was named "Grand Dragon" of the new United Florida Ku
Klux Klan. Kersey continues to serve as "grand dragon" which, rather
than '^imperial wizard," is the title of the chief executive officer of this
organization. However, he has been in poor health since early 1965,
and most of his duties have since been carried out by his son, Richard
Kersey, of Samsula, the kligrapp (secretary) ; and Alton Cooksey, of
Jacksonville, the klaliff (vice president). When Cooksey did not seek
reelection as klaliff in September 1965, the Kersey family assumed
sole direction of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan. 35 Headquarters
of this group continues to be the home of Jason Kersey in Samsula,
Fla.

After its establishment in 1961, the United Florida Ku Klux Klan
became the dominant klan organization in the State. As of June
1966, theklan's dominance was being challenged by the United Klans
of America whose Florida grand dragon, Boyd Hamby, has sought
to lure UFKKK members into Shelton's organization. These at-
tempts have had some success, particularly because Jason Kersey's
illness has limited the activities of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan.

Committee investigation of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan re-
vealed that 24 separate klaverns of that organization existed in the
State at one time or another during the period 1964 through 1966.

As of January 1967, it is estimated that the active membership of
the United Florida Ku Klux Klan was approximately 300, with the
heaviest concentration in the areas of Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and
Lakeland.

Representatives of the group have continued to be part of the
National Association of Ku Klux Klan under the chairmanship of
James R. Venable.

Association of Arkansas Klans

Another minor klan, whose existence dates back to the midfifties
when school desegregation became an issue in Arkansas, is the As-
sociation of Arkansas Klans.

Efforts by several organizations, mainly the Original Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana and the United Klans of America,
to absorb the small membership of this organization have been
unsuccessful.

As of January 1967, to the best of the committee's knowledge, the
Association of Arkansas Klans maintained two small klaverns in the
State, operating as autonomous units.

The units were located at Pine Bluff in Jefferson County and at
Texarkana in Miller County. :

The committee has identified the leader of the former unit to be
Bill Williams, who formerly served as grand dragon of the Associa-
tion of Arkansas Klans. Leader of the latter unit is Luther Hardy

« It lob nrd Kersey and numerous other State and local officers of the klan were questioned
at the committee's public hearings on Feb. 21 and 23, 196tt.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Scott, who is known to have met with leaders of other klans, including
P, L. Morgan of the Original Knights, in attempts to expand klan
operations m Arkansas. Kepresentatives of the Association of Arkan-
sas Klans were not called as witnesses in the committee's investigative
hearings.

As of January 1967, the committee estimates the active membership
of the Association of Arkansas Klans at approximately 25 members.

Association or Georgia Klans

The Association of Georgia Klans was formed in 1960 by Charles
Homer Maddox and other ex-members of the U.S. Klans, Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan, following the death of Eldon Edwards. This
organization is not connected in any way with Samuel Green's Asso-
ciation of Georgia Klans which had become extinct by the early 1950's.

Headquarters of the Association of Georgia Klans is listed as Post
Office Box 41, Bloomingdale, Ga. (near Savannah), which is the mail-
ing address of Charles Maddox, the imperial wizard. Membership in
this organization was estimated to be approximately 25 active members
as of January 1967. At the start of the committee's investigation in
1965, weekly meetings of this group were held at 314 Whitaker Street,
Savannah, Ga.

The Association of Georgia Klans, although relatively unimportant
as an autonomous klan organization, is associated with the National
Association of Ku Klux Klan, headed by James R. Venable.

No officers or members of this organization were subpenaed to testify
in the committe's investigative hearings.

The Association of South Carolina Klans

The Association of South Carolina Klans was organized in the fall
of 1955 by ex-members of the defunct Association of Carolina Klans.

As previously noted, the Association of Carolina Klans was formed
in November 1949 by members who split away from the Association of
Georgia Klans. The Association of Carolina Klans had purposes and
policies identical to the Association of Georgia Klans but confined its
activities to the States of North Carolina and South Carolina.

The Association of South Carolina Klans has restricted its recruit-
ment and activities since its inception to the State of South Carolina.
It has frequently sent representatives to klan meetings designed to
explore consolidation of klan organizations in various States. It is
presently one of the klans in the loose-knit confederation under the
leadership of James R. Tenable, known as the National Association of
Ku Klux Klan. Meetings of this association have been irregular and
infrequent, however, and the Association of Carolina Klans continues
to retain its autonomy.

The announced purposes of the Association of South Carolina Klans
is to promote white supremacy and combat integration of the races.
The use of violence has been consistently disavowed by the leadership.

While the Association of South Carolina Klans is not incorporated
by the State of South Carolina, it has used the name "Majority Citi-
zens League of South Carolina," which was incorporated in the State
in 1950. Both these organizations use Post Office Box 63, West Colum-
bia, S.C., for mailing and recruitment purposes.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

i ^ i Vlt iv ° f the ASCK from 1965 to the P resent time have in-
cluded rallies and cross-burnings and picketing of integrated busi-
ness places m addition to regular meetings and recruiting drives.
Rallies ol the organization in recent years have often featured speak-
ers from other klans; a particular favorite is James Venable, imperial
wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Affairs of the ASCK are under the control of a grand council
comprised of Aubrey Bolen, of Swansea, S.C. ; Eobert Hodges, Colum-
bia, b.C, (a U.S. postal employee) ; Cecil Belton Minis, West Colum-
bia, S.C.; William B. Davis, Anderson, S.C; and Coy Robinson,
-Lancaster, o.C.

In conjunction with the Majority Citizens League of South Caro-
lina, the Association of South Carolina Klans published a monthly
?S Spa ^ e ^'i- Southland Standard, from August through December
1961. Publication ceased for lack of financial support.

Investigation by the committee disclosed the existence of eight
klaverns of the Association of South Carolina Klans which were
active m South Carolina within the period 1964-66. The klaverns
are listed on page 146 of this report.

, No members or officers of this organization were called as witnesses
m the committee hearings dealing with klan activities in the United
States.

The committee estimates that approximately 250 members were
enrolled m the Association of South Carolina Klans as of Januarv
1967. J

Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.

The origin of the Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.,
dates back to the summer of the year 1957 when several members
were expelled from Klavern No. 1 of the U.S. Klan in Chattanooga,
lenn., by the late Imperial Wizard Eldon Edwards. The Chatta-
nooga unit of U.S. Klans was headed by Jack William Brown, who
became the imperial wizard of the new Dixie Klans. His brother,
Harry Leon Brown, also became an incorporator and officer of the
Dixie Klans after being expelled from the U.S. Klans.

The Dixie Klans received a corporate charter from the Tennessee
secretary of state on October 25, 1957. Since that time, its activities
and membership have been confined for the most part to the area
around Chattanooga. Committee investigation revealed that the klan
did, however, maintain active klaverns in the northwestern part of
Georgia and another in the area of Anniston, Ala.
^The Dixie Klans belonged to the National Association of Ku Klux
Klan headed by James Venable, and leaders of the Chattanooga-
based klan attended a number of meetings of this federation of smaller
klan groups.

Until his death in the summer of 1965, Jack William Brown was
the guiding force behind the Dixie Knights. This organization was
always small in size and relatively ineffective. After Brown's death,
leadership was assumed by Charles Macon Roberts, of Chattanooga,
Tenn. In the summer of 1966 Roberts explored the possibility of
merging the membership of the Dixie Klans into the United Klans of
America. As of that time, the committee estimates that the Dixie

THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Klans had approximately 150 members residing in Tennessee and
northern Georgia. Four klaverns known to have existed in the period
1964-66 are listed on page 146 of this report.

It might be noted that until the establishment of a Tennessee Realm
of the United Klans of America in 1962, the Dixie Klans was the
dominant Man in Tennessee.

Committee investigation disclosed that in its earlier years, the Dixie
Klans was repeatedly involved in bombings and other acts of violence.
In fact, Eldon Edwards had allegedly expelled his Chattanooga klav-
ern, which later became the Dixie Knights, because he felt they were
uncontrollable and too prone to violence.

When the committee started public hearings in 1965, the Dixie
Knights had dwindled to a position of relative unimportance in the
klan movement. No witnesses were called from this organization.

Improved Order of the U.S. Klans, Knights or the
Ktr Kltjx Klan, Inc.

Circumstances surrounding the formation of the Improved Order of
the U.S. Klans were discussed briefly in the preceding section dealing
with the U.S. Klans.

E. E. George, whose klan membership dates back to the 1920's, has
been the imperial wizard of the Improved Order since its incorpora-
tion in the State of Georgia in November 1963. 3G The headquarters of
the organization is located at George's home in Lithonia, Ga.

At the time of its incorporation, this organization was comprised of
all of the klaverns of the U.S. Klans from which it had split, except
Klavern 297, which continued in the U.S. Klans.

In the period 1964-66, the Improved Order had seven klaverns
located in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. They are listed on page 146
of this report.

The Jacksonville, Fla., klaverns are known to have been disbanded
by December 1964. As of January 1967, most klaverns of the Im-
proved Order were inactive.

Membership was estimated to be approximately 100 as of January
1967. Finances were small and the influence of this organization in
the klan movement even smaller.

Representatives of this organization have attended meetings of the
National Association of Ku Klux Klan headed by James Venable. No
officers or members of the Improved Order of the U.S. Klans were sub-
penaed to testify during the committee's investigative hearings.

Mississippi Knights or the Kit Klux Klan

The Mississippi Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was established in
late 1958 under the leadership of Walter F. Bailey. Headquarters of
the organization was at Gulf port, Miss.

This klan has always been very small in terms of membership and
effectiveness, and at no time during its entire history has it had more
than 25 active members.

30 Articles of Incorporation of the Improved Order of the U.S. Klans are reproduced as
an exhibit In the appendix, pp. 339-342.

Since 1964, the Mississippi Knights has actually dwindled to a one-
man operation. Walter Bailey's activities were apparently limited
to infrequent meetings with leaders of other klans in the National As-
sociation of Ku Klux Klan.

The recent death of leader Walter Bailey has rendered this orga-
nization to all intents and purposes defunct.

Militant Knights or the Ku Klux Klan, Florida

The Militant Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was formed in the
spring of 1965 in Jacksonville, Fla., by former members of the United
Florida Ku Klux Klan, who left that organization because of the lack
of militancy on the part of the UFKKK leadership.

Membership in this organization has been confined to the Jackson-
ville area, where one active klavern was established.

The number of members has always been small, and as of January
1967, the membership was approximately 25.

^At the time of the committee's hearings, leadership of the Militant
Knights was in the hands of Imperial Wizard Donald J. Ballentine,
who appeared as a witness on February 23, 1966, and Grand Dragon
Gene Foreman.

United Knights or the Ku Klux Klan, Florida

The United Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was created by dissatisfied
members of the Florida Realm of the United Klans of America at a
convention held at Melbourne, Fla., on October 24, 1965.

Grand dragon of the new klan is Charles B. "Rip" Riddlehoover
of Fort Lauderdale, who was interrogated at this committee's public
investigative hearings on February 23, 1966. Riddlehoover and other
former officers of the Florida section of the United Klans of America
left Shelton's organization because of disagreements with Shelton's
Florida grand dragon, Donald Cothran. Riddlehoover's faction had
charged Cothran with mismanagement of klan funds and dictatorial
methods, including staging a mock election to put handpicked men in
important posts in the UKA's Florida organization.

Initially, the United Knights of the Ku Klux Klan threatened to
take over all of the Florida membership of the UKA except for those
few klansmen who were loyal to Cothran. The group included in-
dividuals with previous convictions for felonies, and its leaders were
known to have made threats of violence. Riddlehoover and his top
lieutenant, Jack Grantham, were arrested in Miami in October 1965
on a traffic violation charge, to which was added a gun-carrying charge
against the grand dragon. Publicity given to the klan's operations
and leadership as a result of the arrests helped to restrict the expansion
of I he new klan.

Although the United Knights has never really gotten off the ground
as an effective klan organization, the defection of Riddlehoover and
others caused internal problems in the Florida operation of the UKA
from which the latter has not fully recovered

The United Knights is known to have established one klavern in
the Davie, Fla. (Broward County), area, which is also known as the

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

Broward Fellowship Club. Its entire membership, as of January
1967, was approximately 50 active members.

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Florida

This very small klan group under the leadership of Bill Hendrix
meets at Hendrix's home in Oldsmar, Fla. It numbers less than 10 per-
sons. Its only activity in the past 5 years has been its infrequent meet-
ings.

Hendrix is a klan leader of long standing and has called his klan
organization, at various times, the Southern Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan, the Southern-Northern Knights, Knights of the White Camel-
lia, Order of the Rattlesnake, and Konsolidated Ku Klux Klans of the
Invisible Empire.

In 1961, Hendrix had publicly announced his retirement from active
klan participation because he disapproved of the violence inherent in
klan organizations.

Summary of Leadership, Location, and Strength of 15 Klan
Organizations in the United States

1. Association of Arkansas Klans :

Headquarters : Pine Bluff, Ark.
Imperial wizard : None.

Membership: Estimated to be approximately 25, confined to
State of Arkansas.

2. Association of Georgia Klans :

Headquarters : Bloomingdale, Ga.
Imperial wizard : Charles Homer Maddox.
Membership: As of January 1967, estimated to be approxi-
mately 25, confined to area of Savannah, Ga.

3. Association of South Carolina Klans :

Headquarters: West Columbia, S.C.
Imperial wizard : Aubrey E. Bolen.

Membership: As of January 1967, estimated to be approxi-
mately 250, confined to the State of South Carolina.

4. Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. :

Headquarters: Chattanooga, Tenn.
Imperial wizard : Charles Macon Roberts.
Has operated in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.
Membership: As of January 1967, estimated to be approxi-
mately 150.

5. Improved Order of the U.S. Klans, Inc. :

Headquarters : Lithonia, Ga.

Imperial wizard : E. E. George.

Has operated in Georgia, Alabama, Florida; most klaverns

now inactive.
Membership : As of January 1967, approximately 100.

6. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Florida :

Headquarters : Oldsmar, Fla.
Leader : Bill Hendrix.

Membership: Approximately 10 as of January 1967, with
operations confined to Pinellas County, Fla.

THE PRESENT DAT KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

7. Militant Knights of the Ku Klux Klan :

Headquarters : Jacksonville, Fla.
Last known imperial wizard : Donald Ballentine.
Membership : Estimated to be approximately 25, confined to
State of Florida as of January 1967.

8. Mississippi Knights of the KKK :

Headquarters : Gulf port, Miss.

Imperial wizard : None since death of Walter F. Bailey.
Membership : Approximately five, as of June 1966 ; considered
defunct as of January 1967.

9. National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. :

Headquarters : Tucker, Ga.

Imperial wizard : James R. Venable.

Has operated in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina,
and Ohio.

Membership : Estimated to be approximately 100, as of Janu-
ary 1967.

10. Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan :

Headquarters : Factions operate independently from Winns-

boro and Bogalusa, La.
Imperial wizard : Competing sets of officers since organization

split by factionalism.
Has operated in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
Membership : Estimated at approximately 250, as of January

1967.

11. U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc. :

Headquarters : College Park, Ga.

Imperial wizard : H. J. Jones.

Operation reduced to one active klavern after having been
dominant klan organization in United States from 1955
to 1961.

Membership : As of January 1967, estimated to be approxi-
mately 50.

12. United Florida Ku Klux Klan:

Headquarters : Samsula, Fla.
Grand dragon : Jason E. Kersey.

Membership : Estimated to be approximately 300, as of Janu-
ary 1967, with operations confined to the State of Florida.

13. United Klans of America, Inc. :

Headquarters: Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Imperial wizard : Robert M. Shelton.

Operates actively in 18 States, with at least 556 klaverns hav-

uig been established at one time or another in the period

1964-1966.
Membership : Estimated at approximately 15,075 as of early

1967.
This national klan movement includes the following State

operations :

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

State

Grand dragon

Headquarters

Number of

kiaverns,

1964-66

Estimated
membership,
January 1987

Alabama

James Spears

40
10
5

27
57
30

1
192
4
1
SO
10
14
32

Arkansas

George McNeely

ISO
. 10

400
1,400

Delaware

Not definitely established
since vacated by Ralph
Pryor.

Boyd Hamby

Florida

Titusville

Georgia. .

Calvin Craig. ...

Louisiana

Vacant (formerly Jack Hehn) .
Vernon Naimaster

State operation di-
rected by Robert
Shelton from Tus-
caloosa.

Maryland...

700

26
200

Michigan '

Mississippi

Vacant (formerly Edward L.
McDaniel).

Not definitely established
since resignation of King
Kleagle Prank W. Rotella,
Jr.

King Kleagle William Hoff

State operation di-
rected by Robert
Shelton from Tus-
caloosa.

New Jersey

(2)

7,600

100

New York.

North Carolina

Ohio

J. Robertson Jones

Jim Harris

Granite Quarry

Pennsylvania

Roy Frankhauser

South Carolina

Robert Scoggin

800

226

200

1,250

Tennessee

Raymond Anderson

Texas...

Virginia

Marshall R. Kornegay

South Hill

i Figures quoted apply as of March 1967.
2 Negligible.

14. United Knights of the Ku Klux Klan:

Headquarters : Davie, Fla.
Imperial wizard: Charles B. Riddlehoover.
Membership : Estimated to be approximately 50, with opera-
tions confined to State of Florida, as of January 1967.

15. White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi :

Headquarters : Laurel, Miss.
Imperial wizard : Samuel H. Bowers.

Membership : Dwindled to approximately 400 active members
as of January 1967, confined to State of Mississippi.
Overall summary : Total estimated membership of all klan organiza-
tions as of early 1967 is approximately 16,810. Of this number,
15,075 members were enrolled in the United Klans of America
headed by Robert Shelton. The remaining 1,735 members belonged
to 13 other klans listed above. 37

*UP°* estimates are included for three very recently formed klan groups referred to on
p. 18 of this chapter.

CHAPTER III. SECRECY AND RITUAL OF THE KLANS

Ritual

With the exception of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of
Mississippi, all present-day active klan organizations borrow their
ritual and kloranic degrees from the old Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
which operated from 1915 to 1944.

The four basic kloranic degrees of a ku Mux klan organization are
namedTlhe "Order of Citizenship or K-Uno" (probationary) ;
"Knights Kamellia or K-Duo" (primary order of knighthood) ;
"Knights of the Great Forest or K-Trio" (the order of American
chivalry) ; and the "Knights of the Midnight Mystery or K-Quad"
(superior order of the knighthood and spiritual philosophies) . Klan
ritual provides for a klan language which extends beyond the nomen-
clature for its officers and organizational subdivisions already de-
scribed. There are klan kolors, and a klan kalendar in which a special
system of keeping tune has been devised. Secret handclasps -and" ?l
spoken greetings are supposed to help a klansman recognize a brother
member of the order without revealing membership to outsiders.

Procedures for conducting a klavern meeting and other klan ritual
work are set forth in a booklet titled "The Kloran."

Committee investigation with regard to the use of rituals revealed
that present-day klans in the United States, in distinct contrast to the
practice in Simmons' organization in the 1920's, pay only lipservice to
prescribed ceremonies. With regard to the four kloranic degrees re-
ferred to above, only the first degree has ever been administered in
any klan, in spite of the 100-year history of the movement. Proba-
tionary citizenship binds a person to the klan oath and renders him
liable for monthly dues thereafter. When this primary initiation cere-
mony is held, it usually takes place at the recruit's first klan meeting.

Committee investigation revealed that the United Klans of America
has not engaged in any degree ritual beyond ceremonies for the first
order of citizenship. William Hugh Morris, who testified to mem-
bership in various klan organizations dating back to 1924 and has most
recently been associated with the National Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan, copyrighted a booklet entitled "K-Duo." This is the only evi-
dence that the committee uncovered to suggest that any klan organi-
zation has even considered going beyond the first order of citizen.-
ship. No modern-day klan organization has been known to confer'
this secondary order of citizenship on any of its members, however.
Testimony from longtime klan leaders such as James R. Venable sug-
gests that as far as the modern-day klans are concerned, the third and
fourth orders of citizenship have never even been written, much less
bestowed upon any present klan member.

The committee finds that ritual receives very little emphasis in
modern klans. Even the initiation ceremony is falling into disuse.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Committee investigation revealed that, while most klan constitutions
require a member to receive the degree of K-Uno, most klansmen
actually become members merely by signing an application and pay-
ing an initiation fee (klectokon). Even the application for member-
ship is an insignificant document. After execution, it is immediately
destroyed.
I Secrecy

**/_ Secrecy is the cornerstone of every klan's structure. It is also essen-
tial to the success of their operations.

Committee investigation reveals that secrecy has enabled a rela-
tively few klansmen to operate outside the law as vigilante groups to
"'deal with" those whom the particular klan group or klan leader
opposes. It has made it possible for a few organized klansmen, whose
strength in numbers is minute compared to total population, to ob-
tain influence and power in local communities.

Secrecy becomes the way of life of a klansman from the moment
he takes his oaths of allegiance to his klan. Jjfll operations of a klans-
man thereafter are withheld from the publicrwith the exception of
certain public activities which the klan leadership may decide upon.
Within the individual klavern, for example, strict security is main-
tained with respect to the identity of klan officers and members, sources
of klan finances, klan rituals, klan meetings, and special "projects.']

Committee investigation revealed that klan organizations employ
a variety of internal security procedures to maintain the veil of secrecy
surrounding their operations. Private meetings of klansmen are pro-
tected by inner and outer guards, who prevent intrusion from those
not authorized to enter.

In some cases, klan officials search the persons of members suspected
of collaboration with law enforcement agencies, looking for listening
devices or notes taken at meetings. The klan is extremely sensitive
to penetration by law enforcement agencies.

. The committee's hearings documented the fact that high frequency
citizens band radios and low frequency walkie-talkies are utilized to
provide additional security for klan meetings, whether on klavern
or higher levels. Inner and outer guards use these two-way radios
to warn the secret conclaves of the movements of strangers who pose
a threat to the security of the meetings.

Klansmen are also known to have used citizens band radios to in-
tercept police radio messages in order to time their movements so as
to avoid interception by police. Intelligence from such sources has
furthermore been an aid to klansmen harassing civil rights advocates.
Knowing police locations, klan leaders can position their forces where
there is least risk of observation and apprehension by officers of the
law.

SuFERSECRET "ACTION" GROUPS

A most sinister and dangerous aspect of klan secrecy is the forma-
tion of small _hard-core groups within the klan organization whose
membership and activities are unknown to the general membership.
Committee investigation disclosed that atrocities committed by klans-
men are generally conceived and executed by selected groups of trusted
members whose participation in such activities is not known to other

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

members. , Most of the violence and extra-legal activities of the klans
are committed by these highly secret "action groups" within the klan.

The groups range in size from three to as many as a dozen men, and
they plan the commission of lawless acts outside of regular klavern
meetings. The operations of these action groups should not obscure
the fact that violence is also often discussed at klavern meetings. In
the case of a UKA klavern in McComb, Miss., slips of paper identify-
ing victims of future klan violence were drawn by lot by klansmen
attending a regular session of their klavern.

Frequently, action groups emulate big-city gangsters in that unlaw-
ful acts in a particular locality may be committed by members of an
action group from a distant area called in at the request of the local
klavern. Committee investigation revealed that members of these
hard-core groups are usually given military and other special train-
ing by instructors who are ex-servicemen with experience in these
fields. The groups have practiced judo, karate, firing of pistols and
rifles, and received instruction in the use of explosives, demolition
devices, and incendiaries. Most members of these groups have ac-
cumulated supplies of weapons, ammunition, and explosives and they
spend much of their time discussing these subjects.

Proof of the existence of klan groups as described above was pre-
sented at the committee's public hearings. A few are cited from the
hearing record.

In the South Carolina Realm of the United Klans of America, mem-
bers of an action group known as the Underground met in secret (out-
side of regular klavern meetings) to discuss and plan specific acts of
violence. Members of the Underground were extremely militant and
prone to violence. Committee investigation revealed that the members
took training in marksmanship and accumulated a large number of
weapons. It is understood that the existence of this organization,
whose first leader was Furman Dean Williams, was known to the
UKA's grand dragon for South Carolina, Eobert Scoggin. Scoggin
gave this organization at least tacit approval by taking no action, to
the committee's knowledge, to disband it or expel its members from the
United Klans.

Within the Georgia Realm of the United Klans of America is Clay-
ton County Klavern No. 52, also known as the Clayton Civic Club, Inc.
A subgroup of hard-core members was organized by Exalted Cyclops
Robert Bing and named the "White Band." Its primary purpose was
to plan and execute acts of harassment and intimidation against Ne-
groes. Members of the White Band held meetings apart from those
attended by the general membership of the klavern. Subgroup mem-
bers took extensive training in the use of firearms and demolition de-
vices, as well as in judo and karate.

It should be noted, however, that the Clayton County Klavern itself
sponsored such training for the general klan membership and even per-
mitted attendance by members of other klan organizations. This
I raining took place on numerous occasions at the farm of Exalted
Cyclops Bing in Henry County, Ga. 1 The knowledge which these
klansmen received during training sessions in explosives and incendi-
ary devices was to be put to use to frustrate Negro efforts to achieve
constitutional rights as affirmed by legislative acts and judicial edicts.

J See cli. VI for moro details on lUCh klan training.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

In most klaverns of the United Klans of America, as well as in some
other klan organizations, there is a group of appointed officers known
as the klokann 2 who serve on a klokann committee. According to the
UKA constitution, their functions are to audit the financial records of
the klavern, to investigate prospective members of the klan, and to
carry out. such other duties as the exalted cyclops or other klan leaders
deem necessary. Evidence uncovered by committee investigation,
however, reveals that more often than not the klokann committee
serves as a small strong-arm squad entrusted with planning and exe-
cuting acts of intimidation and harassment.

Working with the klavern klokann is the intelligence committee.
As prescribed in the United Klans of America manual, "The Klan In
Action," the duties of the intelligence committee are :

^(ff) To protect the Klan from the actions of unfaithful mem-
bers ; to investigate members whose actions are suspicious or who
/seem to show lack of proper regard for any part of their oath.
/ (b) To protect the Order by advising of spies and enemies
[ within the Klan.

J (d) To keep the Exalted Cyclops informed on all matters of
j controversy within the Klanton.

(e) To investigate other societies and organizations.
I i ) To assist the Klokann.

(g) To obtain evidence against public officials who are not
administering their official duties according to law and American
principles.

(h) To investigate all cases of discrimination against Klans-
men.

(i) To investigate all cases of fraud within the Klanton.
The activities of the intelligence committee are kept secret from
most other klansmen. Thus, the average klansman considers its mem-
bership to be identical with that of the klokann committee. For this
reason, most information furnished to the Committee on Un-American
Activities relating to klan investigators and klan violence involved
the klokann rather than the intelligence committee. This confused
situation, whereby the impression was created that an intelligence
committee did not exist, added to the security of members of the in-
telligence committee. Functions of that committee are comparable to
the Klan Bureau of Investigation of the White Knights and the wreck-
ing crews of the Original Knights.

The White Knights Klan Bureau of Investigation carried out its
intelligence functions under the leadership of grand, province and im-
perial investigators. These investigators would appoint individual
klansmen or entire klaverns to assist in intelligence gathering or
violent reprisal against those classified as "enemy." This set-up per-
mitted the investigator on State or province level to send klansmen
to conduct investigations or participate in violence in areas of the
State of Mississippi where the klansmen were strangers to the local
klan organization and law enforcement authorities.

3 Klokann Is the plural form for klokan (investigator), according to the UKA consti-
tution.

Within the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana,
terroristic duties were entrusted to so-called wrecking crews appointed
by the klokan (klavern investigator). The Original Knights con-
stitution decreed that each klavern must have at least one team of six
men "to be used for wrecking crew." The men were to be appointed
by the klokan "in secrecy."

With respect to the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, led by
James R. Venable, the committee has already called attention to the
operations of a highly secret, militant, and violence-prone subgroup
called the Black Shirts. The group is also known as the Black
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and its activity since its formation in
1965 is not revealed to the general klan membership. In their appear-
ances in public, these men are clad entirely in black. They are led by
men who also serve as organizers for the National Knights, namely,
Earl Holcombe and Colbert Eaymond McGriff.

The nucleus of this group which affiliated with the National Knights
comes from the area of Barnesville, Ga., and had operated in 1964 as
the Vigilantes. A number had earlier been associated with the United
Klans of America, and quit the UKA after an incident in Griffin, Ga.,
in April 1964 in which some of them were arrested. The Griffin in-
cident involved intimidating a Negro at his place of business. As a
result of the arrests, a large quantity of arms and ammunition was
confiscated by the Griffin police. The Black Shirts include as mem-
bers such- men as Cecil William Myers and Joseph Howard Sims who,
while affiliated with the United Klans of America, were charged with
involvement in the Lemuel Penn murder in July 1964.

THE KLAN OATH

The importance of secrecy is driven home to each klan recruit when
he takes a series of oaths at the time of admission to klan membership.

Klan oaths involve many obligations. The individual promises to
obey klan rules and officers, be faithful to the organization, practice
"klanishness" with fellow klansmen, and protect the secrecy of the
order and its members.

The section of the oath governing secrecy states :

I most solemnly swear — that I will forever — keep sacredly secret— the signs,
words and grip — and any and all other — matters and knowledge — of the [klan]—
regarding which a most rigid secrecy — must be maintained — which may at any
time — be communicated to me — and will never — divulge same nor even cause
•same to be divulged — to any person in the whole world — unless I know posi-
tively — that such person is a member of this Order— in good and regular stand-
ing — and not even then — unless it be — for the best interest of this Order.

I most sacredly vow — and most positively swear — that I will never yield to
bribe — flattery — threats — passion — punishment — persecution — persuasion — nor
any enticements whatever — coming from or offered by — any person or persons —
male or female — for the purpose of — obtaining from me — a secret or secret
Information — of the [klan] — I will die rather than divulge same— so help me
God— 3

3 The oath quoted here is used by the United Klans of America and most of the major
klan organizations. It is reproduced in full in the appendix, pp. 343-346.

The oath of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi, which is an exhibit
(o the committee's public hearings on klan organizations, differs in a number of respects
from the above-quoted oath. Some of the differences are noted in that section of cli. II
dealing with the White Knights. See p. 45.

THE PRESENT DAY KIT KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Included in this oath are certain exemptions which, the committee
has already observed, lack practical application :

I swear that I will keep secure to myself— a secret of a r.klan]sman— when
same is committed to me— in the sacred bond of [klan]smanship— the crime of
violating this solemn oath— treason against the United States of America-
rape — and malicious murder— alone excepted.

The dangers and potential abuse of such an oath are obvious. The
klansman is saying, in effect, that he is bound never to reveal, even
to an officer of the law, the commission of any crime, except treason,
murder, and rape. Yet, in the trial of Collie Leroy Wilkins, the UKA
imperial klonsel (lawyer) accused Gary Eowe, an FBI undercover
klansman, of violating his klan oath by reporting the involvement of
fellow UKA members in the Viola Liuzzo murder. The reaction of
the United Klans of America to Howe's testimony clearly established
that a klansman with knowledge of murder is not exempt from the
oath of secrecy.

The oath unequivocally silences klansmen with knowledge of the
planning and execution of a flogging, bombing, act of arson, or simi-
lar violent and criminal deed. The implications are all the more
ominous when an officer of the law is also a member of the Man. If
his klan oath supersedes his oath to uphold the law, he could not possi-
bly take action against a fellow klansman who he knows has engaged
in illegal acts.

Tactics adopted by Imperial Wizard Kobert Shelton of the United
Klans of America during this committee's public hearings apparently
were intended to emphasize the superiority of a klan oath over other
oaths. Klansmen repeatedly invoke the name of the Almighty when
they take their oath of allegiance to the United Klans of America.
When Imperial Wizard Shelton was called to the witness stand by
this committee in October 1965, the chairman administered the follow-
ing oath :

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will he
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Shelton pointedly refused to take this oath. Instead, he merely
affirmed, without reference to God, that he would be truthful in his
testimony. The 'same procedure was followed by Mrs. Shelton, Shel- •
ton's former office secretary, Carol Long, and' the UKA's imperial
chaplain, George Dorsett, when they were called to testify before the
committee.

The committee found that klan organizations do not rely on a
simple oath to maintain the security of their operations. Klan threats,
harassment, and outright physical violence have been employed to
prevent klan members and former members from talking too much.
A particularly vicious kind of retaliation threatened, and sometimes
carried out, by klan leaders is directed at the wives and children of
suspected klan security risks.

The explanation which the United Klans of America offers to the
public to justify the secret nature of the organization does little to
improve its image, Recruiting literature issued by the United Klans
under the title "The Seven Symbols of the Klan," 4 refers to the
klansman's hood thusly :

*Tho leaflet. "The Seven Symbols of the Klan," 1h reproduced «n an exhibit In the
appendix, pp. I147-352.

That hated hood, the terror of every evil force in the land, how they cry,
"take off the hood." But they don't know what they say. They do not under-
stand why we wear it or what it means. "If they only knew!"

In the first place it helps to conceal our membership. The secret of our
power lies in the secrecy of our membership. We are a great secret organization
to aid the officers of the law and we can do our best work when we are
not known to the public. By this means we see and hear everything. We
know the evil forces but they do not know us. By our secret membership we
gather thousands into the meshes of the law that would otherwise escape.

Such words actually serve as justification for lawless elements with-
in the klan to take the law into their own hands, and create a host of
new problems for law enforcement officers.

SECRECY OF THE WHITE KNIGHTS

The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi has made
such a fetish of secrecy that its entire operation is "underground."

A number of mimeographed directives, not identified on their face
as to source, were traced by the committee to their origin in the head-
quarters of the White Knights. One such directive, labeled "Se-
crecy," 5 described that quality as the "greatest asset" which the klan as
a militant organization possessed. A second directive, under the title
"Executive Lecture of March 1, 1964," 5 listed procedures for White
Knights members to follow to maintain the "security" of their orga-
nization. Security was defined as including the ability of a unit and
its members to remain undetected by outsiders and the ability of a unit
to protect its meetings from detection and intrusion from outsiders.

Behavior of klansmen on the way to and from klan meetings was
discussed. "Train yourself to see yourself as a skilled detective would
see you," the directive urged. Precautions in recruiting new members
included the warning: "Remember, the men who join you are going
to be walking around with your life in their hands."

Additional instructions covered the roles of a klavern security officer
and armed klavern guards, use of mail drops and coded telephone con-
versations, ways to avoid identification from written or printed com-
munications, and keeping records in code. Security precautions even
provided for the separation of members within the same klavern. For
example, some members of a klavern could be identified as members
only by the individual who had personally recruited him.

"The directive titled "Secrecy" is reproduced on p. 70 and the complete text of "Execu-
tive Lecture of March 1, 1964" appears on pp. 164-168. White Knights Imperial Wizard
Sam Holloway Bowers, Jr., and other klan officers invoked their constitutional privileges
against self-incrimination when interrogated by this committee about such documents on
Feb. 1, 1966.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

[Harold Delk Exhibit No. 1 — January 14, 1966]

SECRECY
| .
Ko serious person will question the fao*t that SECRECY is tho greatest aeoet which
this organization possesses on the militant aide of its nature. It in second in
importance only to our Christian Spirit and Motivation which is tho basics for our
inspiration and the Ccuse of whatever sucesa wo may achieve.

Every .r.ember murt keip the concept of SECRECY uppermost in his mind at all times
eg he kei.ps the Spirit of Christ uppermost in his heart at all times. Secrecy must
become second nature to' all members, and thoy must learn to keep still without oven
thinking about it.

It is very difficult for the new member to adapt himself to this concept and each •
recruiter must impress it in a very forcible manner on each new member from the very
first. The new non-bcr i3 usually so thrilled and enthusiastic that he ia unable to
contain himself and ma£ say or do something that will reveal his affiliation to our
sharp eyed and sharp eared enemies who are all about us, watchinfr. This danger must be
recognized by tho trained recruiter.

T.e:: cambers must be impressed with the understanding that they are "creen" to the
concept of secrecy, and that thay must be more than careful. "A slip of the lip ,
may sink tho ship." The comir.unists have a saying ("Nothing is unimportant". Our
members must realize this and slip nothing by word, rcanner or deed that an enemy could *■
turn into worthwhile information.

Secrecy is net only a tight lip, but a tight mariner. Members should avoid "get-
ting together" on the outside of a meeting and gossiping. This is the most deadly
work, that any group of .aen have ever fee.n engaged in , and we must be deadly careful ab
about it. ' Avoid using the name of the organization at all times. It is not necessary
to use that name in conversation with a fellow member in order to make yourself under-
stood. Develop tho habit of talking in such a way that even if someone was t.o over-
hear your conversation , he would not be able to understand what is was that you were
talking about. Develop your own private, substitutate names for all proper names and o ■/
•offices in the organization.

Secrecy is more than just not talking. True Secrecy is a HARDENED MENTAL ATTITUD"
by which an individual convinces HIMSELF that he is not. a member and that there is no ■
Buch organization. Secrecy is Mental Discipline and necessary for Victory, .
When a member is so able to discipline himself, he is' not going to ACCIDENTALLY make
slips of tongue and manner , and until he DOES so discipline himself he will continu-a
to make auch slips.

V/hen the Veil of Gocrecy is closed, each member should immediately change his
personality back to t.e person that he was before he became a member, and reenter the
Alien world 03 an Alien, with the knowledge ofbthe Organization buried deep in his
consciousness,

Kembers should learn how to 3teer conversations away from subjects which are re-
lated to tho organization and its work. Ilenbers should always direct the attention of
of aliens with whoa they converse TOJARD tho Communist Enemy and Sympathaziers and
A'.JAT from ourselves.

The very highest 5S3once of Secrecy is Deliberate Deception, but only highly Skilled.

extremely alert or gifted members should attempt this. It is extremely dangerous and"
requires a precise understanding of the Enemy. All members, however , should wo^k
and study in r-,rdi>r to become proficient at tliig work oi' Eeliltornto Deception. 'J hen
in doubt as to your ubility to deceive, just remain silent ustd innocent.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

COVER NAMES AND FRONT ORGANIZATIONS

Like the Communist Party, the various klans make wide use of cover
names and front organizations. They are facades to conceal from the
public the klan and its true role in certain political, agitational, and
propaganda activities.

The cover names and the titles of front organizations selected by
klan leaders usually give the impression that the klan is a sporting-
club or a civic association.

A glance at the list of klaverns in this report e shows many local
klan units masquerading as rescue services, hunting and fishing clubs,
rifle clubs, sportsmen's clubs, and improvement associations. As previ-
ously stated, financial transactions of the imperial (national) office of
the United Klans of America are conducted in the cover name, "Ala-
bama Kescue Service."

Committee investigation documented the fact that, in addition to
the use of cover names described above, klans in southern communities
create what purport to be separate and autonomous organizations.
Actually, they are fronts created and controlled by the klan. In some
cases a klan has legally incorporated front organizations. The front, of
course, has no apparent connection with a klan-type group. Ex-
amples of such front organizations would include fronts in Alabama
for the United Klans of America known as Heritage Enterprises, Inc.,
and the Whiteman's Defense Fund; a front of the White Knights
in Mississippi titled White Christian Protective and Legal Defense
Fund; and two previously discussed fronts of the National Knights in
Georgia — Defensive Legion of Registered Americans, Inc., and the
Christian Voters <& Buyers League.

Sometimes a klan organization or a local klavern of a klan has ob-
tained a corporate charter to do business under the cover name it had
adopted. Examples include :

The Clayton Civic Club, Inc., 1 was incorporated in the State of
Georgia in January 1965. This organization has engaged in busi-
ness ventures and in attempts to take part in the civic and social affairs
of the city of Jonesboro and surrounding areas (slightly south of
Atlanta) . Nevertheless, the club is identical to Clayton County Klav-
ern No. 52, Realm of Georgia, United Klans of America.

The New Hanover County Improvement Association, Inc., 1 was
incorporated in the State of North Carolina in June 1964 as an alleged
charitable and educational corporation which would teach "patriot-
ism" and support of the Constitution and laws of the United States.
This organization operates in the area of Wilmington, N.C., with no
ostensible connection to any klan organization. In reality it is a
klavern of the North Carolina Eealm of the United Klans of America.

The Adams County Civic and Betterment Association 1 was incor-
porated in the State of Mississippi in August 1964 for the publicly
stated purpose of advancing "the educational, civic, and social inter-
ests" of the county and encouraging voter registration and voting.

See pp. 145-163.

7 Articles of Incorporation filed with a secretary of state by the named organizations are
reproduced as exhibits in the appendix to this report. See pp. 353-355, 356-358, 359-361,
and" .-{02-365.

THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

This organization was once a klavern of the White Knights of the
KKK of Mississippi. Its entire membership defected to the United
Klans of America and as a result it now operates as a klavern of the
United Klans.

The Anti-Communist Christian Association 7 was incorporated in
the State of Louisiana in January 1965. The incorporators informed
the secretary of state that the association, with headquarters in Boga-
lusa, La., sought to preserve the State constitution and the U.S. Con-
stitution "as originally written," to promote Christian civilization, and
to fight communism. The association, in fact, was a cover for that
faction of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan which operated
in the area of Bogalusa. It was led by klan officers Charles Christmas
and Saxon Farmer.

In all examples listed above, the incorporators (or officers in the
case of unincorporated groups) were identified as being members of
a klan. Committee investigation determined that the activities of
these organizations were designed to benefit the interests of the respec-
tive klan organizations. Private meetings of those organizations iden-
tified as mere covers for a klavern were identical to meetings of a
klavern, while the other organizations such as the Whiteman's Defense
Fund were dominated and controlled by klan officers and members.

INFILTRATION

Like the iceberg, the bulk of a klan's membership, by design, is con-
cealed from the general public. Also by design, an individual's mem-
bership is concealed from members of other local units and from most
of the officers holding positions of responsibility on local or national
levels of the klan structure.

Local klaverns protect the identity of members by destroying
applications and by recording members by numerical designations.
Local klaverns are not required to, and in fact do not, report the
identity of their members to any higher headquarters.

This secrecy of membership creates conditions whereby klansmen
are often able to infiltrate at will areas where their presence can con-
tribute substantially to the influence and power of the klan. By con-
cealing their membership, klansmen have run for public office and have
been elected. They have obtained appointments as State and local law
enforcement officers, as well as positions of trust within a political sub-
division, local or State.

Due to limited staff, the committee was unable to conduct investiga-
tions into the backgrounds of all individuals identified as klansmen
during the course of its inquiry. It did, however, document numerous
instances of successful infiltration by klansmen into positions of
responsibility in their communities. The committee's continuing
investigation after its hearings had been concluded produced addi-
tional evidence of this. While this report reflects these findings, indi-
vidual identifications will not be made because the persons concerned
have not been confronted with the results of the committee's investi-
gation.

Considering the number of members of police and sheriff's depart-
ments and their auxiliaries in the Southern States, committee findings
reflect a minor infiltration in this area. Tt therefore appoiirs imques-

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

tionable that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers
are dedicated to preserving law and order. However, even a minor in-
filtration is harmful to the law enforcement community. Just as one bad
officer of the law throws suspicion on the entire department, one police-
man who holds membership in the klan and who permits the klan to
violate the law, brings the entire department under suspicion of those
who seek protection from the klan. This situation also produces other
problems affecting the entire community. In Natchez, Miss., klans-
men in the police department, supported by the local klan, have been
trying to remove the non-klan chief and to have him replaced by a
klansman or someone who will not oppose the klan. If they are suc-
cessful, their success will be derived from their secret klan member-
ship.

The Governor of Mississippi rightly found that klan membership
was not compatible with employment as highway patrolmen and there-
fore removed several klansmen from such employment. If state ad-
ministrations outside Mississippi and southern municipal authorities
would follow the lead of Governor Johnson, there would be fewer
klan members within city or state police departments.

With respect to sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, the responsibility for
infiltration of these departments rests largely with the people.
Throughout the South, the sheriff is elected to his office. Thereafter,
the sheriff appoints his deputies and members of the auxiliary. The
committee subpenaed Sheriff Marion W. Millis of New Hanover
County, North Carolina, because its investigation established that the
sheriff and certain of his deputies were ideological members of the
United Klans of America. Following the service of his subpena but
prior to his sworn testimony, he attempted to deceive the committee
by denying to the committee staff that he had held klan membership.
Under oath, he admitted klan membership but contended that he and
his deputies joined for intelligence purposes. In spite of this latter
claim, neither the sheriff nor his deputies prepared reports or main-
tained files on klan activities within New Hanover County. Although
these facts were publicized, Millis nevertheless was reelected as sheriff.
In the area of law enforcement, klansmen were found to be sheriffs
or deputies, police chiefs and policemen, highway patrolmen, con-
stables, justices of peace, or state game wardens.

The committee is also disturbed by the fact that there are other
law officers, not established to be klan members, who give aid and com-
fort or funds to klans. A sheriff attended a victory banquet in Septem-
ber, 1964, at Lawrenceville, Ga., following the acquittal of those tried
for the murder of Lt. Col. Penn. Other sheriffs and police chiefs have
made financial contributions to klans located within their jurisdiction.
Ralph Roton admitted as a witness before this committee that he
held an official position within the United Klans of America, and that
he had been appointed by Imperial Wizard Shelton as a klan investi-
gator. Roton further acknowledged that, with the endorsement of the
then Governor of Alabama, he had been appointed to the staff of a
State legislative commission in 1963. Roton told the committee his
work as an investigator for the Alabama commission had the same
scope as his investigations for the United Klans. He testified under
oath that neither the Governor nor the chairman of the commission
knew him to be a klansman. The chairman of the 'State legislative group

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

advised that if he had known of the affiliation, the klansman would not
have been hired. No one knows the extent to which klan intelligence
was fed through this employment. The testimony of the witness is not
helpful in this regard.

In Bogalusa, La., City Attorney Kobert T. Eester 8 held mem-
bership in the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Some acquit-
tals of known klansmen and, on the other hand, questionable prosecu-
tions of some civil rights advocates in Rester's jurisdiction, resulted in a
breakdown of respect for law and order. While klan violence actually
brought about Federal intervention and the issuance of a Federal in-
junction against the klan and its leaders in Bogalusa, vigorous and fair
application of the law might have averted the need for Federal inter-
vention.

One klan official named during the committee's hearings was later
identified by the press as being a member of the Mississippi Legisla-
ture, while one additional member of that State's legislature was
identified as a klansman during the committee's continuing investiga-
tion.

At least one Georgia mayor was identified as a klansman and sub-
penaed as a witness. However, upon the presentation of medical evi-
dence that an appearance would be most detrimental to his health, the
subpena was cancelled.

8 Robert T. Rester, testifying, in public session on Jan. 7, 1966, denied klan membership
at the time of his appearance before the committee but invoked his constitutional priv-
ileges against self-incrimination with respect to past membership in the klan.

CHAPTER IV. KLAN OBJECTIVES, REAL AND IMAGINARY

Of the two dozen or so objectives publicly professed by present-day
Mans, only one is advanced with sincerity, according to a former
highly placed officer in the United Klans. This "si ncere" aim is the
promotion o f so-pallpd whit* cmp^ypo^y " -

Klan oaths, constitutions, and otherstatements of principles unfail-
ingly declare the klansmen's intention to "maintain forever sep mp-a.-
tion^o fjhe races and th e divinely riiranf-«rt and historically nfrov Sn*
supremacy or the wmte race. 1 *»

From the evidence produced by committee hearings and investiga-
tions, most of the organized efforts of the klans— public and covert-
are directed toward this white supremacist goal. The covert-methods
adopted by klansmen in pursuit of the objective r^nge from murder
to threats andintimidation . Illustrations am prr> v1 HpH ™ n hTp^ \/ r
of this reportr—Public klan activity withthe_ same purpose— such as
rallies, boycotts, and political action— are^described in detail in chap-
ter V. Discussion of the reputed cynicism of some klan leaders, who
further klan goals with expectations of financial gain and personal
power, is also reserved for other sections of the report.
-/=*A review of the nature of recent klan activities leads to the inescap-
able conclusion that "maintaining white supremacy" includes prevent-
ing this Nation's Negro minority from fully exercising constitutional
rights and privileges, and arousing fears and hatreds among persons
of all races in order to gain support for the klan philosophy that the
| U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written "for whites
/only."

*rr As long as klans cling to their white supremacist goal, no credence
can be given to frequent assertions by klan leaders that the organiza-
tions are not "anti-Negro." 2

Nor can any faith be placed in the commonly made klan claim that
the organizations are not "anti-Jew," "anti-Catholic," and "anti-
foreign born." The committee received relatively few reports of overt
klan actions solely aimed against any one of these minorities in recent
years. However, today as in the past, klans dissemina.tp rlP.fflma.tory
propaganda. n.f Tailin g and from their prip fin ff pm^a i n an apparent

attempt t o create animosity toward and social ostracism o
Catholi^

iatnolics. and aliens i n the United Stamp's.

A number of professed objectives of presently operating klans are
repetitions of statements adopted by the post-Civil War organization.
Such are t he klan pledges to (1) protect the weak, the innocent, and,
the defenseless from "the lawless^ ' ffl succo r the suflermg"and un- ~

«™ This language appears In the constitution of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Official documents of both the United Klans and National Knights also list the "mainte-
nance of white supremacy" as their purpose. The White Knights describe their aim as
Strict segregation of the races, and the control of the social structure in the hands of the
Christian Anglo-Saxon white men."

3 A leaflet distributed by the United Klans stated the organization was "not anti-Negro"
and In fact was "the Negro's friend." The leaflet, titled "The Principle of the United
.,«.'.' "l? f AmerI cn, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," is reproduced in the appendix, pp.
.{(10—371.

THE PRESENT DAY KXJ KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

f ortunate; (3) protect and defend the Constitution o f thp. TTnitar[
States and all laws pa sse d in conformity thereto ; (4) assist in the_
execution oi all constitutional laws; and (5) protect States rights.

.Nothing m tne record ot recent klan activity indicates any serious
effort in behalf of such objectives. As a matter of fact, many incidents
will be recited in this report which demonstrate that lawless klansmen
have preyed upon the weak, innocent, and defenseless. These klans-
men have repeatedly come into conflict with local criminal laws, in
addition to doing violence to the Constitution by striving to deprive
.others of rights guaranteed by that document.

Such lawless conduct is encouraged by the klans' assumption of
power to decide what laws and what law enforcement officers should be
obeyed. Most major klans have pledged support only to a constitution
"as written by our forefathers" or "as originally written" and today
"twisted" or "ripped to shreds" by evil men. 3 Klansmen are instructed
to obey only "constitutional" 1a.ws T Since the' Federal (government is
represented as a captive of Communists, klansmen are given no encour-
agement to respect Federal laws. White Knights documents, referred
to in more detail in chapter VI, show that klansmen are furthermore
instructed not to submit to the authority of local elected officials and
police officers if they impede the advancement of klan goals.

Modern klans vociferously proclaim themselves to be effective op-
ponents of communism. The United Klans of America is pledged to
"fight to the last breath" to rid the country of the "insidious plague" of
communism. The White Knights vow they are working for the "total
destruction of communism." The National Knights promise to "save"
the Nation from Communist conquest, while the Original Knights re-
cruit on the basis of their "effective program" against communism.
Evidence accumulated by the committee indicates that the vaunted
"anticommunism" of klans is a deception. The klans. in fac^ a^p a,
source of distorted and -ffllgp in formation regarding the Communist
movement and klans thereby actually impede sincere programs aimed
at increasing public understanding of this imported conspiracy. It
is obvious that klans are cynically exploiting public antipathy to com-
munism in order to advance their white supremacist objectives.

In addition to its anti-Communist mission, the White Knights have
taken on the immense responsibility of "preserving Christian civiliza-
tion." An examination of secret White Knights documents reveals this
is nothing more than a klan effort to "morally" justify its positions on
racial issues.

Many other aims professed by klan organizations should be £lassi-
fiod as imaginary in the absence of any demonstrated klan effort to
achieve mem. Such are avowals to promote g rid p rap+ ^° "patri otism."
protect womanhood. prom nfp "jnsfV™^" p^j gerve public pea.c.p or ^™„
estic tranquility, f ollow and pro™"* f1nQ tparJ""^ nf (1hrifitjn.nit ,y ;
and preserve freedom of sp o or -h a.H a ^^P PT^fff

A number of minor objectives, promoted in printed literature d is-
tributed by tne K ians., me | urlr f">™r""f™" f^'n ht»^r»ti^ pp f^ nTn™

2'H"'ifgrqjiuil, expulsion and /or dispnfrnnr.hiRpmpnt of millions of

aliens^ re.ppal nf +.ft ft Federal Reserve Act, and withdrawal of the
"States from the United. JNations.

Public Kian propaganda nas little to say about any "fraternal" bene-
fits of klan membership. Although existing klans lay claim to the
ritualism devised by Imperial Wizard Simmons shortly after World
War I, they have made no attempt to emulate Simmons' recruitment
pitch emphasizing the mystery and fraternity to be found in the klan.
In this respect, klan organizations today are more akin to their activist
brethren of the post-Civil War period.

'Positions publicly stated by the United Klans, White Knights, and Original Knights,
for example.

CHAPTER V. PUBLIC KLAN ACTIVITY

The Cow Pasture Rally

A klan rally is many things. To the curious, it serves as a bizarre
form of entertainment. To the klan leaders, it is a vehicle for attracting
potential members and hard cash.

Typically, the rally is staged in a farmer's field on the outskirts of
a city or town. The main props consist of a 15- to 50-f oot-high burning
cross and a crude wooden speakers' platform (for which a truck bed is
often substituted). Klan security guards, in uniforms reminiscent of
storm troopers, are positioned strategically in the milling crowd.
Gospel songs, such as The Old Rugged Cross, emanate from an ampli-
fier to which a record player is connected. On the platform are a
microphone and klan leaders featured as speakers. The gold, green,
or red of their hoods and robes designate their official status within
their respective klan organizations.

Raffle tickets may be on sale, affording spectators a chance to win a
television set or a $100 carbine. Depending upon the issues of the
moment and the geographical area, the rally will draw several hundred
spectators— or several thousand.

During the rally, contributions will be collected, the disposition of
which will be surrounded by an aura of mystery. The speakers will
seize the opportunity to vent personal hatreds and prejudices guised
in terms of patriotism and other "noble causes." Some remarks border
on the incendiary and appear to be a calculated effort to arouse fears
and hatreds in the audience — emotions which sometimes find a lawless
outlet.

Speech-making functions are usually assigned to a kludd (chaplain)
who pronounces an invocation and benediction, a local klan official,
and one or more visiting klan dignitaries holding state or national
klan office.

Advanced publicity about the lighting of a cross, at the beginning
or end of the program, is a gimmick to attract the outsider. The
drama inherent in robed figures marching with torches around an
illuminated cross has been effectively exploited by klans from the time
Simmons introduced his organization in 1915. The klans insist, how-
ever, that the cross is a reminder to klansmen to follow Christ's teach-
ings, and the addition of fire simply signifies that "Christ is the light
of the world." a

A cross-burning may be omitted occasionally, but the committee
found no evidence of any klan rally without the ceremony of passing
the hat or bucket. 2 At this point in the program, the old "shill game"
is sometimes utilized. According to the testimony of "the Reverend"
Roy Woodle, ex-grand kludd of the United Klans in North Carolina,

1 A photograph of flaming crosses at a klan rally appears on p. 79 of this report.
2 The intake of greenbacks as a result of a public klan rally is illustrated in the photo-
graph appearing on p. 80 of this report.

THE PEE SENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Crosses blaze at cow pasture rally staged by United Klans of America near Salisbury,
N.C., on Aug. 8, 1964. The three klan officials standing together are James Robert-
son Jones, North Carolina grand dragon; Fred L. Wilson, treasurer of the UKA
organization in North Carolina; and Robert Scoggin, South Carolina grand dragon
[Fred Wilson Exhibit No. 7— Oct. 25, 1965].

klan members in civilian garb are given sizable sums of cash before the
rally begins and are directed to mingle with the audience. In order to
stimulate donations from the crowd, these selected klansmen ostenta-
tiously deposit money in the collection hats or buckets. The same for-
mula has been employed when application blanks for klan membership
are distributed among the audience. Predetermined members of the
klan loudly request membership applications in the hope that their
action will encourage others in the audience to follow suit. The strategy
also helps give substance to klan claims of an "enormous gain" in
membership as a result of a rally.

Woodle, a bricklayer and self-styled preacher who had considerable
experience as a guest orator at rallies of the United Klans of America,
offered the committee the following impression of such gatherings:

In my honest opinion, the way I see it, [the klan officials] come into town this
month, have a rally, get all the money you can get, and get out, and say, "Now,
you folks work hard, get all the members you can. We will be back next year for
another rally."

And then on other occasions, I saw poor men out on the side, can't hardly pay
their bills, supporting it, and [the officials] promising you, "We are going to
give you the victory. We are going to stand. We are going to stand," but ain't
nobody found out wliat they are going to stand for.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

George Dorsett, imperial kludd (national chaplain) of the United Klans of America,
takes in the cash after a collection speech at a public rally held by the UKA at
Landis, N.C., on Aug. 21, 1965 [George Dorsett Exhibit No. 9— Oct. 27, 1965].

"What they stand for" — according to Robert Shelton, Imperial Wiz-
ard of the United Klans — is a "return" of the Government "into the
hands of the people instead of a mob bureaucracy of sex perverts and
Communist atheists that we have leading our government in America
today." Shelton's statement, made at a Bear, Del., rally on July 81,
1965, is typical of efforts by Man speakers to portray themselves as
last-ditch patriots, warring against communism and immorality. His

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

remarks also illustrate the klans' habit of misrepresenting actual Com-
munist problems by over-exaggeration, distortion and outright falsifi-
cation. As klan oratory continues, however, it becomes obvious that
the klan's vaunted anti-communism is a pretext for venomous attacks
on minority groups. This is demonstrated in the speech made by Robert
Shelton at a United Klans rally in North Carolina on October 28,
1961:

* * * We are one klan in our unchangeable determination that these United
States will be saved from destruction under this foul combination of Negro-
Jewish communism. * * * Yes, our mortal enemy as of old is the jungle descend-
ant of the Negro, but today he has banded together with the non-white, money-
drunk, anti-Christian Jew who has influenced him, financed him, propagandized
him, defended him falsely in our courts and enslaved him into his Jewish-owned
and controlled NAACfP. It operates 1 at the direction of the American Jewish Com-
munists. * * * The so-called American Jew has made a greater slave of the
Negro than he ever was in the year 1860.

* * * Both political parties are bought lock, stock and barrel by this same ma-
nipulator. The evil scheme of the manipulator to overthrow the American govern-
ment cannot he denied by any just man. Therefore they are traitors and they are
not American. Their supreme loyalty, by their own admission, is to one world
"jew-ery" with the gentile white man branded as their slaves.

CONTRADICTORY STANCES ON VIOLENCE

The bulk of klan rallies staged in recent years has been under the
aegis of the United Klans of America or the National Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan, Inc. Leaders of both organizations have told rally
audiences that the klan is dedicated to legal methods and opposed to
violence.

A closer examination of klan leaders' public statements and activi-
ties leads to the conclusion that disavowals of terrorism are beamed at
law enforcement authorities rather than klansmen. The leaders have
failed to demonstrate that the klans as presently operated have more
respect for the law than their predecessor organizations.

The committee observed thatklan leaders habitually leave the door
open to violence by vague qualifications in their public disavowals of
violent intent. They also customarily refer to laws as being imposed
by an enemy minority in control of the Federal Government in viola-
tion of the American Constitution "as originally written." When emo-
tion-packed oratory against minority groups is added, the net effect
is an encouragement of lawlessness.

An illustration is provided by Imperial Wizard Shelton's perform-
ance at the rally in October 1961, previously referred to. The wizard
portrayed the United Klans as a "new, modern jet-age klan" with
"ideals" which "have not changed one bit since 1867." The scalawags
of today, Shelton said, are the "alien thieves and traitors" who control
the United States Government. He identified them as a Communist-
directed combination of Negroes and Jews. The klan disrespect for
laws enacted under such a government was indicated by Shelton's next
statement :

The sword of justice in all klan meetings means justice under constitutional
law as written by our forefathers and now * * * twisted by evil men who plot
our country's downfall and whose sole purpose is monetary and political gain.

With respect to klan aims, Shelton said that the klan "does hereby
make an open declaration of war against the evils of Negroism and

THE PRESENT DAY KIT KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Jewism and the Jewish Communists." The klan is "going to take back
this country from alien thieves and traitors." His militant tone was
muted for a moment by the traditional disavowal of unlawful intent :
"It is a legal war, a peaceful war, a constitutional war. A war of bal-
lots, not bullets."

Before his oration had been completed, however, the imperial wiz-
ard managed to blur a pacific image of the klan. "Our weapons are
ballots not bullets, but we will defend ourselves, our homes, our
loved ones," he declaimed. "We will never night ride again, UNLESS
we are forced to defend our homes."

Printed words cannot adequately describe the effect of such remarks
at a klan rally, where racial slurs by a rabble-rousing orator have been
sufficient to evoke an audience response of "Kill the Niggers 1" 3

Shelton had been installed in the office of imperial wizard slightly
more than 3 months before he spoke at the aforementioned North
Carolina rally. His activities prior to the rally were not conducive to
a non-violent klan image.

During the previous August, Shelton had been in Montgomery, Ala.,
openly lobbying against a proposed state law which would make flog-
ging by nightriders a capital offense. The wizard maintained in press
interviews that klansmen themselves had "long since abandoned flog-
gings in any form" but he saw a possible need for men to "avenge a
crime" where victims were too fearful of publicity to become involved
in a prosecution. Describing himself as a great believer in law and
order, he nevertheless declared that he was "glad that there are still men
somewhere who will take matters in their own hands when the hands
of the law are tied."

Immediately prior to his assumption of leadership of the United
Klans in 1961, Shelton had received considerable notoriety for his
involvement in violence against civil rights advocates who were test-
ing bus desegregation in the South. Shelton. who then headed the
Alabama Knights, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., 4 was charged
by the Government with engaging in a conspiracy with others which
resulted in the beating and assaulting of the so-called Freedom Riders
at bus terminals in Birmingham, Ala., on May 14 and Montgomery,
Ala., on May 20, 1961. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining
order against Shelton and others on May 20, and followed it up on
June 2 with a preliminary injunction forbidding interference with
interstate bus travel. 5

Shelton issued a press statement attacking the May 20 restraining
order as an attempt to prevent Alabama klans "from aiding in the
preservation of our laws and customs." He also blamed the restraining
order for propelling him into an all-night discussion on May 20 with
officials of the United Klans, at which arrangements were made to
merge the Alabama Knights into the UK A.

3 Shouts heard from the crowd which gathered at a United Klans rally near Hemingway,
S.C., April 3, 1965, to hear Imperial Wizard Shelton and other klan speakers.

4 The title used in the klan's application for a charter from the secretary of state of
Alabama In May 1960. The klan was commonly known, however, as the Alabama Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan.

5 At a court hearing prior to the issuance of the preliminary inlunction, Shelton denied
participation in a conspiracy ; he also claimed he could not identify members of his klan
organization because he kept no records. Enjoined on June 2 in addition to Shelton and
members of the Alabama Knights were the officers and members of the Alabama organiza-
tion of the U.S. Klans.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

As noted elsewhere in this report, the merger was officially consum-
mated at a meeting July 8, 1961, which also bestowed on Shelton the
title of Imperial Wizard of the United Klans. Committee investiga-
tions show that Shelton had been quietly seeking to organize various
dissident klan groups under his command ever since the death of
Imperial Wizard Edwards in 1960. His efforts were so successful that
he could demand the top post when he joined the United Klans in
July. Shelton's actual entrance into the United Klans became a gesture
of defiance against federal action to restrain serious outbreaks of vio-
lence involving klansmen. His reign therefore has encouraged law-
lessness from the outset.

The ambivalence of United Klans officials in their public stance with
respect to violence has continued to the present day. Shelton had an-
nounced in May of 1963 that any Federal attempt to enforce integra-
tion at the University of Alabama could "touch off the bloodiest riot-
ing ever seen in the United States." The klan would "match the vio-
lence" of any Federal troops or marshals swinging gun butts or using
tear gas, he said, and furthermore if Tuscaloosa officials failed to en-
force the local law, "the Klan will enforce it."

That same month, Calvin Craig, grand dragon of the United Klans
Georgia Kealm, asserted at a rally near Birmingham, Ala., that the klan
was going to meet force with force if Martin Luther King returned to
the State of Georgia. Craig, who boasts that he has always preached
non-violence, predicted at another rally near Durham, N.C., in March
1964 that "more blood would be shed in America" before the next
Presidential inauguration "than in the past 10 years." The violence
would allegedly be instigated by white persons if the civil rights bill
of 1964 were enacted and by Negroes if the bill failed to pass. He
hammered on the same theme at a Covington, Ga., klan rally in June
of 1964.

In August of 1965, Craig's harangue to a crowd assembled on the
courthouse steps in Atlanta included the assertion that the civil rights
movement had gone as far as it could go "without outright warfare
between Negroes and the white man." Imperial Wizard Shelton mean-
while sounded his "ballots not bullets" theme at a Meridian, Miss., rally
July 10, 1965, which he promptly vitiated by adding: "And if this
fails, then as a last resort, do what you have to do. I do not advocate
violence, but if you have to resort to it after all else fails, then use it."

During the last week in August of 1965, Negro civil rights dem-
onstrations in Plymouth, N.C., culminated in a series of violent street
clashes between whites and Negroes with injuries to members of
both races. The United Klans grand dragon for North Carolina,
James Robertson Jones, informed the press after a conference with the
Governor of North Carolina on September 2 that he and the Governor
were in agreement on "deploring violence." Jones announced that
members of his klan were not involved in the violence in Plymouth.
There were no klansmen in Plymouth who had been ordered into the
city, the grand dragon stated. He said he had issued an order the pre-
vious week forbidding non-resident klansmen to enter the area. Two
white men, injured in street fighting on August 31, were not klansmen,
Jones also told newsmen.
^ This committee on January 28, 1966, received public testimony from
George Leonard Williams, one of the two aforementioned individuals

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

wounded m Plymouth on August 31, 1965. Williams testified that when
£r T 3 T tt° •?? ^spital with a gun shot wound, he was a mem-
bei of the United Klans klavern at Greenville, N.C. He was in
Plymouth at the orders of klavern officials who declared klansmen
»ZVn° Urnejm ?S h T^ rder " to st °P the colored [demonstrators]
ZX ^mnT^"-^ llhamS descril *d the rallying at Plymouth of
?™5 W United Klansmen, most of them non-residents and many
Wa ? * i f had n ° knowled S e of any order by Grand Dragon

Jones warning klansmen away from Plymouth. In his own first per-
sonal conversation with Jones, after the Plymouth violence, Williams
said Jones was chiefly concerned about the possibility that the Com-
H^?fh^? en< fJ 1 Acti y ities ™^ subpena Williams in connec-
KJfiS fSA 11 investigation. Williams subsequently re-
signed from the United Klans m November 1965. His testimony before
founded" 1 demonstrated that the grand dragon's fears were well

bo^hpW^^^^lT W0 i demonstrate the private commitment of
both the White Knights and the Original Knights to programs of

£T C ^ , V10lei T- Evei ^ the P ublic statements of these klanl am too
contradictory to constitute clear-cut rejections of physical force.

rt.?W>Sf T^ ^f m a J ^ 6 ?°- W 9^ ral1 ^ and the P re ^ s interview,
fh™3£ % l 1?htS an 3 1 0ri «? lal Kni g ht « publicize their positions
through the cheap, crudely printed literature which they also circu-

™ n ™ n v Ct1 ?;? ^ V \ tn cam Pai«ns of character assassination,
a Jd tn^p 1 ^ W^ S ^^ P llblication > The Klan Ledger, man-
July" edition in 196 S 4 q ° n ° f Vi ° lenCB in * "P re 4th of

^sSSii^rSJfini ° f the - K li Klu * Klan of the Sovereign Realm of Mis-
S 1S , a Christian organization. We do not believe in, nor do we" commit
s n °* ^lawful violence. We employ physical force only in defend S of
our Christian emulation ; and even then, without malice o? vengeance

Thhn**% l T k ?! *$¥* b ^ the White Knights grand dragon in
1 tie Klan Ledger dated July 1965 : ; , ';"

thfSan^We !S ^ most . * ^ the Klan is blamed for is not the work of
Sten^'oaaJSafly^S 1 Sn WhlPPlng ^ i" ather than actual > malidoS

not advocate violence unless it becomes necessary for the preservation

o iS^^lTl^^^^ ° f ? is COuntr ^ agafnsithltidS
oi communists. Another handbill distributed in 1965 with the same
imprint flatly asserted that it is "not true" that the OriSnal KniTts

™ ^f i* u t' f As ^ y # ^ *«*> which bussed mass kill-

Sf? i,t%° eS ^ ^ anslh ^ in .. the Stete ^ Louisiana in the year
1873, as well as "only small things * * * such as whirmmdv tar
and feathers, and hangings." Observing that "the kil W*? S Sroes
ceased as they quit voting with the Radicals," the leaflet^w^l"

brtS^& i » i^^S^^ff 1 and they have Hl< ' saine «*• t*a< thev

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

HONORING THE LAWBREAKER

The United Klans during 1965 adopted the practice of paying trib-
ute at its rallies to klansmen who were being prosecuted in connection
with the murder of civil rights advocates.

Speakers at the aforementioned Meridian rally on July 10, 1965, in-
cluded Sheriff Lawrence Rainey of Neshoba County, Miss., then under
Federal indictment for conspiracy in connection with the slaying of
three civil rights workers near Philadelphia, Miss., the previous sum-
mer. Thunderous applause greeted the defendant as he joined United
Klans officers on the speakers' platform. At another United Klans rally
at Greenville, Miss., July 22, the grand dragon for Mississippi intro-
duced Rainey to the crowd as "a great American." On this occasion,
Rainey was seated on the speakers' platform with Shelton and other
klan officials but did not join in the speech-making. Seven days later,
Rainey appeared as a guest of honor at a rally in Montgomery, Ala.,
which was addressed by the United Klans grand dragon for that State.
On October 25, the United Klans staged a rally near Philadelphia,
Miss., the actual scene of the brutal kidnap and murder of civil rights
workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner
which led to the indictment of Rainey and 17 other defendants. The
audience cheered as Sheriff Rainey and his deputy and co-defendant,
Cecil Price, were introduced as "great patriots o'f today." The prin-
cipal speaker, the grand dragon for Mississippi, was assisted by a
master of ceremonies in klan robes who had also been indicted in con-
nection with the Philadelphia murders.

The three defendants in the Viola Liuzzo murder case were honored
guests at a series of United Klan rallies in Alabama and North Caro-
lina in May, 1965. The three^Collie Leroy Wilkins, Eugene Thomas
and William O. Eaton — were then under indictment on State charges
of murder and Federal charges of conspiring to violate civil rights, as
a result of the nightrider slaying of Mrs. Liuzzo on an Alabama high-
way March 25, 1965. The men had yet to be tried when United Klans
officials made this display of support for klansmen who had run afoul
of the law. 6 Wilkins, Thomas, and Eaton had been identified upon their
arrest as members of the United Klans.

The accused United Klansmen marched in a parade which preceded
a rally in Anniston, Ala., on May 9, 1965. As the parade led by Imperial
Wizard Shelton and the Alabama grand dragon reached city hall, the
defendants received a standing ovation from a crowd which had
gathered to hear the klan speakers. Cheers also greeted Wilkins,
Thomas and Eaton when thev were introduced at United Klans rallies
at Dunn, N.C., on May 16 and Sanford, N.C., on May 17, 1965. Wilkins
and Eaton were observed participating in another United Klans pa-
rade in Atlanta, Ga., on June 6, 1965.

Imperial Wizard Shelton, with considerable fanfare, had contrib-
uted two $1000 checks as rewards payable upon the arrest and convic-
tion of persons responsible for a series of bombings which occurred in
Birmingham, Ala,, in December 1963 and in Charlotte, N.C., in Novem-
ber 1965.

The first trial of Wilkins on murdeir charges ended in a deadlocked jury on May 7, 1965,
and another trial had been scheduled for October 1005. See pp. 120-122 for details of this
'. n n!.« ^r.?'." ""' , tht! r( ^" l,il 'P prosecution of Wilkins, Thomas, nnd En ton. Tn March of

m«o, wiiiiam Baton Buffered a fatal liem-t attack,

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

Shelton ran no risks in this grandstand play because the conditions
placed upon cashing of the checks voided their negotiability. In view
of the United Klans practice of honoring those accused of violence
and defaming its victims, the klan cannot so easily erase its equally
public actions justifying and encouraging lawless acts.

James R. Venable, the attorney who serves as imperial wizard of
the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., recently adopted a
public position which would appear to discourage violence.

His speeches at klan rallies in the spring and summer of 1965 in-
formed audiences that his organization opposed any physical violence.
In testimony before this committee, he added that incidents of violence
attributed to members of the rival United Klans had "embarrassed"
other klans. The far from pacific, covert activities of various members
of the National Knights are discussed in another section of this report.
The committee here observes that the National Knights leader has not
always been a public advocate of law and order.

A klansman since 1924, Venable had served as national legal advisor
to both the U.S. Klans and the United Klans before incorporating his
own National Knights in 1963. Venable's proposed alternative to
school integration— in a speech at a U.S. Klans-sponsored gathering
in Atlanta Nov. 30, 1960— met with considerable publicity. "Let's close
them [the schools] up," Venable declared. "Let's burn them up if it
comes to that."

Those assembled for a National Knights rally at Stone Mountain,
Gra., September 5, 1964, were told by their imperial wizard that the
klan does not preach use of violence except in "self defense." Venable
also made reference to two members of the United Klans who had been
acquitted the preceding day of State murder charges in the Lemuel
Penn case. "You'll never be able to convict a white man that killed a
nigger what encroaches on the white race of the south," Venable pro-
claimed. His words were not in keeping with his later testimony to
this committee that klansmen involved in murder are a "disgrace" and
ought to be prosecuted," nor with his press statement approving the
conviction m December 1965 of United Klansmen involved in the
Liuzzo murder case.

Venable's rally oratory includes the customary klan slander against
minority groups. Along with his recent public admonitions against
violations of the law, Venable likes to represent the National Knights
as a last great bulwark for saving the nation from minority control
His harangues may become emotional. "We are willing to shed blood
before we will be dominated !" he announced at a rally near Lebanon,
Ohio, on November 6, 1965.

RALLIES WITH A VIOLENT AFTERMATH

Klan protestations, of non- violent intent become even more suspect
when some of the effects of the rabble-rousing klan rally are examined.

A United Klans rally, held in Atlanta September 4, 1961, to protest
recent desegregation of the city schools, was interrupted by a ''near-
riot directed m this instance at policemen assigned to preserve order at
the rally site. The klan leaders had pitched their appeal to the lawless
from the outset of the rally. A guest speaker, was a teenager who bad
been arrested the preceding week lor Tailing to obey police officers

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

attempting to insure an orderly opening of a desegregated school.
Another speaker, James R. Venable — then national legal advisor to the
United Klans — criticized the arrest as an unwarranted interference
with a mere exercise of "constitutional rights". A masked klan speak-
er's tirade against "niggers and white trash" turned to abuse of police
officers on the scene. Shortly thereafter, Roy E. Frankbouser, one of
the National States Rights Party representatives participating in the
rally, was arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer. A mob of
nearly 100 angry men then began charging toward the officers of the
law, some shouting "Let's stomp that cop." Police reinforcements
finally restored order. 7

The beating of a Negro dentist and three companions climaxed a
rally of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan on September 18, 1963.
Victims were observers at the public klan cross-burning- and speech-
fest held just off U.S. Highway 1 on the outskirts of St. Augustine,
Fla. The beating was administered at the speakers' platform before a
crowd of men and women shouting such words of encouragement as
"Kill 'em" and "String 'em up!"

Earlier, Eunice "Gene" Fallaw, an officer of the UFKKK, intro-
duced the theme of the rally with his invocation to the Lord to "Help
us to be ready to fight, to shed blood if necessary, to maintain our
way of life."

Speaker of the evening was Charles Conley "Connie" Lynch, who
was introduced as a minister of the gospel for more than 35 years.
Lynch began his speech with references to the "glorious history of
the klan" and closed it with this appeal for new members in the exist-
ing klan unit in St. Augustine :

We need a good strong group in St. Augustine. You come and sign up. Bui
don't come if you are weak or a coward. This ain't no peaceful organization We
aim to do whatever is necessary to put the Nigger back in his place, preferablv
in his grave.

Lynch's harangue, lasting more than an hour, was couched in almost
incredibly bloodthirsty language. As reported to the committee by an
eyewitness, Lynch applauded the bombing of a Birmingham, Ala.,
church in September 1963 which took the lives of four young Negro
girls. After informing the audience that he had told 'the FBI he
didn't know the bomber and wouldn't tell "if I did," he had gone on
to say:

But I'll tell you people here tonight, if they can find those fellows, they ought^
to pin a medal on them. Someone said, "Ain't it a shame that them little children
was killed." Well, they don't know what they are talking about. In the first
place they ain't little. They're 14 or 15 years old * * *. In the second place, they
weren't children. Children are little people, little human beings, and that means
white people. * * * But they ain't children. They're just little Niggers. And in
the third place, it wasn't no shame they was killed.

Why? Because when I go out to kill rattlesnakes, I don't make no difference
between little rattlesnakes and big rattlesnakes, because I know it is the nature
of all rattlesnakes to be my enemies and to poison me if they can. So I kill 'em
all, and if there's four less niggers tonight, then, I say, "Good for whoever
planted the bomb." We're all better off.

7 Th e charges against Prankhouser, then national organizer of the NSRP, were later
\ El, ^L^^fJ ? ea £? r ' wh0 Y.5V 3 "rested, convicted and sent to a prison farm for
V9nD?kL C fi ndu 1 ct (disturbing a public school), became public relations director for the
in Mil* tiio tollowlng year.

At a second, more orderly United Klans rally in Atlanta on Sept. !). 1901, .Tames Venable
I wr..« ""I*. sch0 °l ^segregation in the city in these terms : "It hasn't been n peaceful
integration. It never will bo a peaceful integration."

88 THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

The so-called minister of the gospel boasted of his own personal
belief in violence and told his listeners they would be carrying out
God's will to adopt a similar attitude :

I believe in violence, all the violence it takes whether to scare the Niggers out
of the country or to have 'em all six feet under.

*******

In spite of what those numb-skull idiots on the Supreme Court say, they ain't
got no right to mix with you and don't you let 'em. If you have to fight and
shed blood, theirs or yours, do it ! * * * The Niggers started the war, and when
you start a war, you expect some to die. More will die, and you'd better be
ready to see to it that they do. I'm speaking for God, and you'd better listen.

Shouts of approval and rebel yells greeted Lynch's tirade. The
obvious boredom with which the crowd reacted to a less fiery speaker
following Lynch was ended by the discovery of four Negroes in a
wooded area near the rally site. Prodded by guns and knives, the
four were brought before the audience and beaten to the point that
three required hospitalization. Ironically, one of the victims — a Negro
dentist and civil rights advocate — was on a deathlist suggested by
Lynch. Moments earlier, Lynch had declared:

You've got a Nigger in St. Augustine ought not to live — that burr-headed

of a dentist. He's got no right to live at all, let alone walk up and down your
streets and breathe the white man's free air. He ought to wake up tomorrow
morning with a bullet between his eyes. If you were half the men you claim
to be, you'd kill him before sunup.

Law enforcement officers, who were summoned by an observer and
rescued the victims, arrested individuals on the scene who did not
actually participate in the beatings, according to information received
by the committee. Those who allegedly did play a role in the beatings
were Lynch and Fallaw, assisted by Robert Sylvester Arant, Joseph
H. Bedford and Albert T. Massey. Fallaw and Arant were among
past and present officers of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan called
as witnesses in the committee's public hearings in February 1966.
Both witnesses invoked the fifth amendment in response to questions
regarding their klan activity and their part in the violence attending
the aforementioned St. Augustine rally.

Fallaw has not been active in the klan since early 1964. Arant,
however, was serving as exalted cyclops of the Palatka Klavern of
the UFKKK at the time of the committee's klan investigation in
1965. In the spring of 1965, Bedford and Massey, both residents of
Jacksonville, were appointed to the posts of grand klaliff and grand
klokard, respectively, in the Florida organization of the rival United
Klans of America. Bedford also held the national office or" imperial
klexter (inner guard) of the UK A in 1965. In October of the same
year, both men pulled out of the UKA and helped found another
organization known as the United Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

CONNIE LYNCH

Self-ordained minister Connie Lynch s has been recruiting and
speechmaking for klan organizations and the National States Rights
Party for a number of years. Although his permanent address is San
Bernardino, Calif., Lynch is a perpetual traveler and his appearance

■The committee was unable to serve an outstanding subpena calling for Lynch's iippom-
a noo nr puniic hearings.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

in many a community in the Southeastern United States has been a
signal for an increase in racial tensions, if not outright violence.

In the autumn of 1962, Lynch held membership in Jacksonville
Klavern 502 of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan, according to this
committee's investigations. Differences in klan affiliation did not bar
Lynch from speaking engagements in behalf of the United Klans of
America. He was a cospeaker with Imperial Wizard Shelton, for
example, at a UKA rally near Bessemer, Ala., on October 13, 1962.
Lynch was back in California in the early months of 1963, organizing
for the National States Rights Party. The summer and fall of 1963
found him once again in Florida, speaking at a series of rallies which
for the most part aimed at building up membership of the United
Florida Ku Klux Klan. He also turned up in Spartanburg, S.C., on
August 17, 1963, to speak with Shelton at a rally of the United Klans
of America.

Inflammatory speeches by Lynch and J. B. Stoner in St. Augus-
tine, Fla., in June of 1964 drew the condemnation of a State legislative
investigating committee. That committee attributed to the National
States Rights Party, which the two men represented, a "key role" in
exacerbating racial tension and violence which had plagued the area.
In the winter of 1965, Lynch was reported once again active in be-
half of the NSRP in California. During the second week of July
1965, however, Lynch and Stoner were in Bogalusa, La., intensifying
tensions over civil rights demonstrations by exhorting white persons
to get into the streets and to arm themselves.

Such tactics reached a tragic climax on July 15, 1965, in Anniston,
Ala., where a Negro was murdered a few hours after Lynch and
Stoner conducted a National States Rights Party rally at the Anni-
ston courthouse. Hubert D. Strange, later convicted of the ambush
slaying, was identified as having attended the rally, at which Lynch
had declared : "If it takes killing to get the Negroes out of the white
man's streets and to protect our constitutional rights, I say, 'Yes, kill
them!' "

Lynch returned to Anniston for another rally on September 1,

1965, at which similar incendiary remarks were uttered and the guest of
honor was the man whom a jury would soon convict of second-degree
murder (Strange). At the end of the year, according to information
received by this committee, Lynch showed up for some of the meetings
of the Jacksonville klavern of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan.
The early months of 1966 saw him once more on the West Coast, tour-
ing the northwestern states in behalf of the NSRP. He appeared in
the East again for a series of NSRP rallies in Baltimore, Md., in July

1966, which were brought to a halt by a court injunction after youths
attending the rallies engaged in altercations with Negroes. As a result
of these rallies, Lynch and local NSRP officers were found guilty in
Baltimore Criminal Court November 18, 1966, on charges which in-
cluded incitement to riot, conspiracy to riot, and disorderly conduct.

A rally of the United Klans of America which had a violent after-
math took place on the evening of June 20, 1964, north of Covington,
Ga. Committee investigations established that the rally was attended
by I [erbert Guest and a number of other United Klansmen from the
Alliens, Ga., area. In the early hours of the morning following the

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

rally, cars owned by United Klansmen of Athens made two forays
through a Negro housing project in Athens, firing shotguns loaded with
buckshot. On the second invasion, a teenage boy and girl were struck
in the face by shotgun pellets. The boy was blinded in one eye. Athens
klansmen Herbert Guest and Paul Strickland were subsequently con-
victed and fined for discharging firearms within the city. Strickland
and Denver W. Phillips, who was also identified as a member of the
klan's nightriding caravan, have yet to be tried on more serious charges
of assault with intent to murder. 9

Klan "Walks," Motorcades and .Picketing

In addition to rallies, a number of klans engage in robed "walks"
and picketing. These particular activities provide publicity and also
bolster klan claims that it has a program of action to further its pur-
poses. Walks and picketing vary as to details. Nevertheless, they have
a common theme — defense of white supremacy.

During 1965, robed klansmen from the United Florida Ku Klux
Klan "walked" through a central Florida town, while others from the
United Klans of America paraded en masse through cities in North

SHENAXDMK

The United Klans of America sponsored a "walk" through Salisbury, N.C., on Aug.
21, 1965. Individuals wearing military-type helmets are members of the klan's "se-
curity guard."

Carolina and Georgia. 10 Although klan leaders represent such walks
as peaceful, legitimate activity, they have led to increased racial ten-
sions, particularly when they have been timed to coincide with civil
rights demonstrations in the same area. 11

In some communities, klan walks or motorcades are primarily staged
for the purpose of intimidation. During the walks, robed klansmen
often enter a town from opposite directions and walk toward each
other in pairs. Speaking only when spoken to, the costumed figures
are a silent and threatening reminder of the klan's presence in the
community.

In a bygone era, bands of robed horses and riders raced with
blazing torches through the dark streets of small Southern towns and
villages. Doors were shut and blinds drawn against the frightening-
sound of racing hoofs over bricked streets. Walks and motorcades
represent the modern klans' effort to revive the climate of the period
when "the klan rides again" was a common occurrence.

Picketing by klansmen, especially when conducted as a counter-
demonstration to the activities of civil rights advocates, has culmi-
nated on a number of occasions in incidents of violence. Illustrations
are provided by United Klans Realm of Georgia.

Close to 100 officers and members of the United Klans on January
18, 1964, picketed downtown Atlanta hotels, restaurants and depart-
ment stores which had desegregated eating facilities. Although the
majority wore their klan rones, the pickets were accompanied by a
number of unrobed klansmen who distributed handbills appealing to
the public to boycott listed integrated establishments. A jeering con-
frontation of klansmen and Negroes later that day was broken up by
police before any outright clash could occur.

Less than a week later, however, Grand Dragon Craig returned with
his klansmen to picket in downtown Atlanta and eventually gravitated
to a street corner where a Negro civil rights demonstration was in
progress. Craig was observed to step into the street and urge white
persons to help the klansmen break up the Negro demonstration.
Police reinforcements sought to restrict the confrontation to a verbal
battle. When Grand Dragon Craig nevertheless insisted upon leading
his klansmen in a march between the rows of Negro demonstrators,
the confrontation degenerated into a fist fight. Shortly thereafter, the
Georgia Realm of the United Klans distributed printed leaflets pic-
turing klan counterpicketing of civil rights demonstrations in Atlanta.
The photos in the klan propaganda showed Negro demonstrators lying
on the street.

The Varsity Drive-In Restaurant in Athens, Ga., was picketed in
March and May of 1964 by local members of the United Klans to pro-
test the employment of Negroes at the restaurant. On both occasions,
lighting broke out between klansmen and Negroes, which led to the
arrest of local klavjern officers.

"Guest and Phillips were later indicted in connection with the murder less l.hiiti a month
later of Negro educator Lemuel Penn. See p. 120,

30 A photograph of a "walk" sponsored by the United Klans of America through Salis-
bury, N.C., in the summer of 1965 appears on p. 90 of this report.

11 United Klan Grand Dragon Calvin Craig told the press on October 4, 1965, that, if the
Governor did not end demonstrations in Crawfordville, Ga.. aimed at school desegregation.
the klan would hold "demonstrations and rallies" to "build up tensions so the laws will
be put into effect as we did in Americus and we did In Albany." In Americus, Ga., in
August 19G5, more than 500 klansmen had marched to the courthouse prior to a scheduled
civil rights march on the same route.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

The Boycott

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

"Our weapons are the boycott and the ballot," Imperial Wizard
James Venable declared at a National Knights rally at Stone Moun-
tain, Ga,, in September 1964. That the boycott was also one of the
avowed weapons of the rival United Klans of America was evident
from Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton's speech at a rally near Bir-
mingham, Ala., in May 1963. The theme of his lengthy oration was
the need for a Man-sponsored boycott of Birmingham merchants who
had contributed money to civil rights organizations or made any
concessions to Negro trade.

The Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana had a
special Boycott Committee, composed of one representative from each
klavern, to carry out proclaimed klan policy of boycotting merchants
using Negro employes to serve or wait upon white persons, and other
itemized "violations" of "the Southern traditions." In neighboring
Mississippi, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan distributed
mimeographed throw-aways announcing a klan boycott of national
chain stores which had agreed to hire Negro cashiers. The White
Knights literature added the warning that "the eyes of the klan will
be watching" white persons who insisted on trading with any of the
proscribed business establishments. The United Klans in Mississippi
boycotted a carry-out hamburger chain merely because it sold to
Negroes.

Klan boycotts— however serious and malevolent the intent — are
sometimes rather ludicrous. During 1962, for example, veteran Georgia
klansman James Venable financed the printing and circulation of a
mammoth list of more than a thousand food and cleaning products
which carry kosher markings to indicate nothing in the processing of
the products violated Jewish dietary laws. An accompanying letter 12
signed by Venable and addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Christian Ameri-
can" called for a boycott of the listed products and charged that
the kosher markings meant Jewish inspectors must be employed by
a manufacturer, who passes the cost on to the consumer. If any con-
sumer had taken Venable's boycott proposal seriously, he would have
found himself sharply limited in his choice of foods.

A similar boycott was called for in "educational" leaflets distributed
in Louisiana in 1965 by the Original Ku Klux Klan of America, Inc.
Several manufacturing companies, responding to inquiries arising
from this irrational propaganda, reported that the use of K (for
kosher) on food and other products is common practice in the industry
today and that rabbinical inspectors of processing procedures are
sometimes paid a nominal fee which has no effect on the ultimate
selling price. When questioned by this committee at public hearings
February 15, 1966, James Venable was unable to produce any evidence
to substantiate his contention that a kind of "tax" on food products
supports a religion. Although the imperial wizard initially attempted
to justify the kosher blacklist, persistent interrogation by members
of the committee led him to concede that the charges against a minor-
ity group were actually "pretty harsh." Venable expressed himself

]2In conducting this attempted boycott, Venable represented hlmeelf t<> Hie public :is
president of a Christian Voters and Buyers League. For further Information en the league,
nee p. 54 of this report.

-as being willing "at this time" to retract the charges and apologize
for them.

Handbills distributed in the Bogalusa, La., area by the Original
Knights identified a chain of gas stations, a radio station, daily news-
paper, and various stores and restaurants which were subject to the
Man's boycott. The gas stations, incidentally, were business competitors
of one of the klan's top officers.

The coercive tactics with which the Original Knights pursued its
boycott campaigns are discussed in the following section of this report
dealing with klan violence. While boycotts are legal economic weapons
to obtain legitimate goals, boycotts carried out by klans in most cases
take the form of illegal intimidation.

Scurrilous Literature Distributions

Klan organizations have demonstrated a certain amount of ex-
pertise in scurrility. It is the trademark of all klan publicity, and it is
nowhere more obvious than in the printed or mimeographed prop-
aganda disseminated by klan organizations.

I In the summer of 1965, the North Carolina Realm of the United
Klans of America paid for the printing of 200,000 handbills, which
were circulated by local klan units to residents of the State. The.hand-
bills — which were handed out on street corners or placed in rural mail
boxes— carried the picture of a vice president of the Pepsi-Cola Com-
pany and his wife. Two brief sentences carried the klan's message :
"Below Picture of Negro Vice President Of Pepsi-Cola, At Left,
And His White Wife, In Center." "Let The Pepsi People Know What
You Think Of Their Vice President And His White Wife."

The United Klans was actually circulating a falsehood in a cam-
paign which Grand Dragon Jones described as "putting the truth
out about Pepsi Cola." The wife of the vice president referred to in
klan handbills is a Negro. Her father, who retired from the Army as
a Brigadier General following World War I, was the first Negro to
command a regiment in wartime.

Another falsehood circulated in United Klans leaflets as well as in
the speeches of Imperial Wizard Shelton involves "sickle cell anemia."
According to the Imperial Wizard, Negro blood contains sickle-
shaped cells which can be fatal to white persons. "Tell anyone you
know that is hiring a nigger, it is very dangerous to hire them, espe-
cially as a baby sitter," Shelton has declared. "All they have to do is
to cut their finger, drop a drop of blood in the baby's food and it will
be dead within a year from sickle cell anemia," Medical authorities
report to the contrary that sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease
found in a very small fraction of the Negro population and it cannot
be transmitted either through blood transfusions or any infectious
process.

Literature circulated by the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
and the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan tended to concentrate
on scurrilous charges against individuals in the community whose ap-
proach to the question of desegregation was not in accord with the
klans.

A three-judge Federal court in New Orleans, La., in an opinion
justifying a preliminary injunction against a faction of the Original
Knights, commented on handbills published in the name of the "Orig

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

inal Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana." The court noted that the handbills
constituted "crude" attacks on certain Bogalusa citizens advocating
a moderate approach to desegregation and cited the following as an
example :

* * * in one handbill an Episcopal minister is accused of lying for having
said that he had received calls threatening to bomb his church ; the minister's
son is said to be an alcoholic, to have faced a morals charge in court, and to
have been committed to a mental institution. The handbill adds :

4, The Ku Klux Klan is now in the process of checking on Reverend 's

[naming him] moral standards. If he is cleared you will be so informed. If he is
not cleared, you will be informed of any and all misdeeds or moral violation of
his in the past." 13

Within the White Knights organization, such attempts at character
assassination were an essential part of its so-called "propaganda
work." A secret White Knights directive to its members issued on
March 1, 1964, explained that: "PROPAGANDA is the weapon of
modern war which our organization uses to convince the public that
we are all good, and that those who oppose us, or criticize us, or at-
tempt to interfere with our activities in airy; way are all BAD, and are
dangerous enemies of the Community." The document stated enemies
could be destroyed in any of three ways: "Socially, Economically,
Physically." Klan propaganda can accomplish the first two in nearly
all cases, the directive observed, adding "When propaganda is properly
used, it actually disturbs the enemy more than the killing of his
agitators."

Use or the Ballot

The klans public position on politics has always been an ambiguous
one. Grand Wizard Forrest's testimony in 1871 that the klan "has
no political purpose" was not accepted by the majority of the congres-
sional investigators who looked into the post-Civil War klan. Imperial
Wizard Simmons' testimony to Congress in 1921 that the klan "is not
a political organization, nor does it seek political power" was con-
tradicted by the energetic effort of his klansmen to influence the course
of local and national politics in the years immediately following his
testimony. Present-day klan wizards such as Robert Shelton also
proclaim that the klan is "not a political organization," yet in the
same breath declare that the klan has "basically a political structure"
and its goal is to create a political revolution by seizing political power
in a number of States. 14

Disclaimers that klans are "political organizations" may be in-
tended to sustain the allegation in many klan charters that they are
non-profit fraternal organizations with purely educational and chari-
table purposes. Klan leaders may also be wary of running afoul of
various State laws. A North Carolina statute adopted in 1953, for ex-
ample, bans secret political societies. "Political" is defined in this
statute as hindering or aiding the success of any candidate for public
office, or any political party or organization.

"Opinion issued December 1. 1985. by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Louisiana, New Orleans Div., justifying order of December 22. 1965, for a preliminary
injunction against the faction of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan using the cover
name, Anti-Communist Christian Association. The klan was enjoined from interfering with
the civil rights of Negro citizens in Washington Parish, La.

11 Shelton press interview August 13, 1965, and speech at klan rally near lfiitHoNlnirg,
Miss., October 28, 1965.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Imperial Wizards Shelton and Venable have publicly declared their
"political goal" to be the organization of a white bloc vote which will
overshadow an alleged black vote. The result— election of officials who
believe in white supremacy.

Information received incidentally in the course of the committee's
klan investigations shows that, while United Klans speakers and litera-
ture berated both major political parties, local klan units adopted a
variety of methods to promote selected political candidates from both
parties. Prior to primary elections in one State in 1964, the United
Klans circulated printed sample ballots with x's after klan-supported
candidates for State office and for the State's delegation to a national
party convention. During a klan rally in another State in 1965, United
Klansmen distributed bumper stickers boosting a candidate for Con-
gress. In Louisiana, the Original Knights in 1963, 1964, and 1966
openly supported candidates for State or congressional office.

Relatively few instances of public klan endorsement of candidates
have come to the committee's attention, however, and the endorsement
has not always been with the knowledge or consent of the candidate.
Also noteworthy is the fact that available election results indicate that
most candidates publicly sponsored by a klan were defeated. Similarly
disastrous, were recent attempts by a well-known klan official to attain
State office. Calvin Craig, grand dragon of the United Klans Georgia
Realm, unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the State Senate in 1964 and
the State House of Representatives in 1965.

When an officer of a county political organization made the mistake
of announcing his election to office in a United Klans klavern in the
summer of 1965, his resignation from his political post was immedi-
atelv demanded by other party leaders.

The more common practice of the klans, not surprisingly, has been
to support political candidates without the "kiss of death" of a public
klan endorsement. That covert political activity can be effective in
certain localities is evident from the fact that a number of individuals
who themselves held concealed klan membership occupied elected
municipal and State offices at the time of the committee's investiga-
tions.

■ The organizational structure of the United Klans provides for a
Governmental Committee within each klavern whose job is to "co-
ordinate and apply the political influence of the Klan".' The commit-
tee members are also directed to investigate and report on the "per-
formance" of all public officers. The constitution of the Original
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan requires Political Action Committees
of the klaverns to "recommend what political candidates or issues to
support or oppose." Such committees are further instructed to prepare
to contact elected State officials to obtain support for the Man's policies
and to "learn and report the person or persons most able to influence
them on such matters."

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

CHAPTER VI. KLANS AS PURVEYORS OF VIOLENCE

Intimidation is a Man's way of life. Without it, the Mans would
cease to exist.

An act of intimidation by a member of a ku Mux Man may take
many forms. It may involve the burning of a cross. It may mean mur-
der. Whatever the form, such acts of intimidation are intended to force
citizens— through fear— to conform with a pattern of behaviour ap-
proved by the Man.

Whether or not intimidation takes on violent forms often appears
to depend on the degree to which the Man's objectives are threatened.
For example, a cross has been burned as a warning against the pro-
posed integration of a school, while in Jacksonville, Fla., the home of
a student who in fact integrated a school was bombed. Whereas crosses
were burned to warn against further activities promoting civil rights,
persons and property were the objects of bomb or arson attacks when
civil rights actions showed practical results in North Carolina, Louisi-
ana and Mississippi.

While murder has followed civil rights demonstrations, the klan
has nevertheless also killed merely because the person's skin was black,
as in the case of Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn.

Klan Documents Acknowledge Reliance on Terrorism

In the literature which the various Mans issue for public consump-
tion, little is stated which reflects the basically conspiratorial and ter-
roristic nature of a klan. In this respect, Mans are no different from
manyother organizations, which put forth a false front to conceal the
conspiracy by which they seek to carry out their purposes. Klans, by
whatever name they are known, are conspiracies to deny to some of our
citizens rights guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution of the
United States.

In this respect, klans have remained unchanged for 100 years. In-
timidation and violence aimed at depriving others of constitutional
rights have been a product of every generation of klansmen since
Nathan Bedford Forrest assumed command of the fledgling organi-
zation in 1867.

The techniques employed in covert, terroristic klan activity have
varied considerably over the years. Committee investigation of modern
klan organizations showed that strategy and tactics are usually dis-
cussed verbally in meetings closed to non-klansmen. Although the
White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is one of the most security-
conscious of present-day klan organizations, it made the mistake
of committing its tactics to writing. The committee obtained a num-
ber of mimeographed directives which, while not identified as to
source, were established to have originated in the headquarters of
the Mississippi klan. Three of the documents were nothing less than
manuals for klan terrorists.

The documents are so illuminative with respect to the funda-
mental evil of klan organizations— past and present — that the com-
mittee is reproducing them in their entirety in this report. 1 No matter
how loudly klan leaders may proclaim their innocence of violent intent,
the committee's investigations and hearings established that the ter-
roristic program set forth in the White Knights mimeographed direc-
tives is emulated, with variations as to details, by all major Man
organizations.

One of the documents, titled "Executive Lecture of March 1, 1964,"
was prepared for the benefit of all officers and members of the White
Knights shortly after the Man was created by a cadre of individuals
banished from the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The White Knights is an organzation of "militants," the Executive
Lecture declared. "As MILITANTS, we are disposed to the use of
physical force against our enemies." 2

Klan activity was represented to be a type of military operation.
Klansmen were instructed in this Lecture to think of themselves as
"soldiers" at "war" with an enemy which must not only be fought
but utterly destroyed. A "good set of books on guerrilla warfare" was
to be kept in each local unit of the klan and "studied by all personnel."
Klansmen were also advised not to make "the classic military blunder
of permitting the ENEMY to choose the battleground and set the con-
ditions of the battle."

Instructions contained in the Executive Lecture with respect to se-
curity, intelligence gathering and propaganda functions of local
White Knights klaverns have been described in preceding sections of
this report. It should be recalled that even the propaganda function
was represented in the Lecture as a "weapon of modern war" which
could serve to destroy an enemy "socially" or "economically." If an
enemy failed to succumb under such attacks, however, the Executive
Lecture stated that he should be "physically destroyed."

PREPARATIONS FOR PHYSICAL COMBAT

A second directive emanating from the White Knights headquar-
ters on May 3, 1964, bore the simple title "Imperial Executive Order,"
This Order prescribed various types of physical combat in which
White Knights members should be prepared to engage during the
summer of 1964. The enemy was identified in the directive as civil
rights demonstrators, 3

Klansmen were instructed to avoid "if possible" any open daylight
conflict with civil rights demonstrators in which klansmen might
appear to be acting as klan members or as private citizens. The klans-
man's first contact with the "enemv in the streets" should be as "le-

1 See appendix pp. 164-168 for Executive Lecture of March 1, 1964 ; pp. 169-171 for
Imperial Executive Order ; and pp. 172, 173 for document on Harassment. White Knights
officers, questioned by the committee in public hearings, refused to testify to the origin
or use of these documents.

a The directive asserted that the use of force was justified by the klan's.goal of preserv-
ing "Christian civilization" from destruction bv the "Communist" enemy. The fletitious-
ness of this goal is apparent from the definition of communism in the directive. Com-
munism is misrepresented as being an "evil, malignant, supernatural force," an "agency
of Satan."

By resorting to such mythology, the klan gave a false east of virtue to its advocacy of
illegal,' terroristic acts. As the Executive Lecture stated, for example, klansmen were
simply "Christian soldiers" battling to "save our Lives, our Nation and our Christian
civilization."

;, Tn an attempt i<> .insiify klan violence, the directive described iiic demonstrators hh
being aided by mythical "Comi Imi authorities in charge of the Notional Government:."

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

gaily-deputized law enforcement officers," the directive declared.
Members of the White Knights accordingly should volunteer to serve
as deputies with local law enforcement agencies.

Those klansmen who succeeded in attaching themselves to local law
enforcement units were reminded that the Man oath had precedence
over any oath to uphold the law. "We must cooperate with our Law
enforcement officials, but we must never place ourselves entirely at
that [sic] disposal, nor under their complete control," the directive
warned. "We must always remember that while Law enforcement offi-
cials have a 'JOB' to do, we, as Christians, have a Responsibility, and
have taken an OATH to preserve Christian Civilization."

The Executive Order called for the formation of "secondary
groups" of klansmen who were to go into action when it appeared that
officers of the law and deputized members of the White Knights were
losing "control of the streets." A secondary group was described as
being "an extremely swift and violent Hit and Run group." Such
groups were to be <J armed and ready to move on very short notice."
They were to remain away from the "main area of conflict" until
called into action.

After a secondary group receives an order to attack, it is supposed
to remain in action for no more than an hour. It was instructed to be
many miles away from the scene of conflict two hours after its com-
mitment. The tasks of these groups, according to the Order, were —

swiftly and vigorously to attack the Local headquarters of the enemy, destroy
and disrupt his leadership and communications * * * and any news communi-
cation equipment or agents in the area. The action of this Secondary group must
be very swift and very forceful with no holds barred. * * * The enemy should
be completely confused when he loses his headquarters and his leadership.

Klan terrorism under cover of darkness was also provided for in
the Executive Order :

* * * We must roll with the MASS punch which they will deliver in the streets
during the day, and we must counterattack the INDIVIDUAL leaders at night.
In our night work any harassment which we direct against the MASS of the
Enemy should be of a minor nature and should be primarilly [sic] against his
equipment {transportation and communication) rather than the PERSONS of the
MASS enemy. Any Personal attacks on the enemy should be carefully planned
to include only the leaders and prime white collaborators of the enemy forces.
These attacks against these selected, individual targets should, of course, be as
severe as circumstances and conditions will permit. * * *

In order to be prepared for combat, the directive further stated,
weapons and ammunition had to be accumulated and stored ; squads
drilled ; propaganda equipment set up and ready to roll ; counterattack
maps, plans and information studied and learned; and radio and other
communications established.

A third White Knights document dealt entirely with methods of
' harassing" the Man's enemies. The document sadistically observed
that harassment fulfilled two important goals :

1. It provides a healthy, not-too-dangerous outlet for the Spirited Enthusi-
asm of the Membership and trains them to work together. If sucessful [sic],
it boosts morale.

2. It always has the latent possibility of goading the enemy into premature
or ill-considered action, whereby he may make a Major Mistake which wfl
can capitalize upon.

Harassment involves "minor" acts which give, the appearance of
being ridiculous jokes but are actually "deadly serious," tile directive

explained. Equipment listed in the document as being "useful in
harassment" indicated the great variety of forms such klan vengeance
may take :

1. Roofing Nails.

2. Sugar and Molasses.

3. Firecrackers.

4. Snakes and Lizards.

5. Mad Dogs.

6. Itching Powder.

7. Stink Bombs.

8. Tear Gas.
9:. Paint.

10. Lacquer Thinner.

11. Sling Shots, Marbles, BB Guns, Air Bines, Bow and Arrow,

Crossbows.

12. Blank Cartridges and Pistols.

13. Roman Candles.

14. Skyrockets.

15. Salt and Pepper.

16. Noisemakers.

Covert Klan Activities Leading to Death, Destruction and Fear

Evidence that members of presently-operating klans actively engage
in acts of intimidation — ranging from cross-burnings to murder — is
spread throughout the record of the committee's public investigative
hearings on klan activity.

In calling attention to specific cases, this committee is only attempt-
ing to provide examples of the various ways in which klans have
repeatedly flouted the law to spread death, destruction and fear in
many southern communities in recent years.

intimidation without physical violence

Many acts of klan intimidation disclosed by the committee's in-
vestigation involved no outward display of violence. That such means
sufficed to frighten citizens into doing the Man's bidding was demon-
strated again and again during the committee's hearings.

In October 1964, a group of responsible citizens of Bogalusa, La.,
met to discuss ways and means by which conditions in that city might
be improved in order to forestall violent conflicts between Negro and
white citizens growing out of civil rights issues. The group, consisting
of the former president of the Louisiana Bar Association, a newspaper
editor, a radio station owner and ministers representing different de-
nominations, decided to sponsor a speech by former Congressman
Brooks Hays on bettering race relations.

The Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan reacted vehemently
when the plan became known. Branding the sponsors as "integration-
ists," the klan publicly threatened that the sponsors and anyone else
who planned to listen to the speech would "be dealt with accordingly
by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan."

The mayor expressed fear of violent klan objections when sponsors
of the Brooks Hays appearance sought cooperation from city officials.

100

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

101

He also frankly confessed that he had been "frightened" when he met
with 150 hooded klansmen in what was described as an effort to avert
possible civil disorder if Mr. Hays spoke in the city.

Under klan threats of civil disobedience and political reprisal, city
officials denied public facilities for the proposed speech.

Meanwhile, the klan took personal action in an effort to force spon-
sors to withdraw their support for the Hays meeting. Crosses were
burned, nails were spilled in the private driveways of sponsors and
windows of the lawyer sponsor were broken with rocks. Advertisers of
both the local newspaper and radio station were economically threat-
ened if they did not, withdraw their advertisements. The station's radio
transmitter shack w T as shot up. A minister was branded a homosexual
without the slightest trace of proof.

Klan terror brought about the cancellation of the Brooks Hays
speech.

Yet the klan was not satisfied. It continued to harass the lawyer
and radio station owner. Klan threats jeopardizing the well being of
the family of the station owner necessitated the removal of the wife
and children from the State. The continued loss of sponsors due to klan
threats forced the station owner to take financial help from the radio
industry until advertisers returned. When the klan prevented this, he
was forced to sell.

In Mississippi, the White Knights printed scurrilous attacks upon
citizens active in the civil rights movement or those who publicly op-
posed the White Knights. To carry out this campaign, the klan used
pseudonyms, such as "The Mississippi White Caps," on its scandal
sheets. Through these publications, the White Knights sought to in-
timidate those it opposed by accusing them of immorality or other
repulsive conduct which would have the effect of destroying the influ-
ence of the Man's opponents in the community.

Henry Bucklew is mayor of Laurel, Miss. He is former vice presi-
dent of the National Evangelist Association. He was chief aide and
director of George Wallace's presidential campaign in Maryland,
North Carolina and Virginia. He is the owner and editor of the South-
ern Baptist News. Burnings, bombings 4 and other violent disorders
on the part of the White Knights in Laurel, Miss., prompted Mayor
Bucklew on October 18, 1965, to appear on television and denounce
the White Knights for its role in the violence.

Immediately thereafter, the White Knights put out a special issue
of its publication, The Klan Ledger, in an attempt to discredit the
mayor's charges and to intimidate others from speaking out. The
mayor's charges— charges which to a great extent were substantiated
by committee investigation— were denied. The klan tried to establish
its innocence by discrediting the mayor. It inferred that the mayor's
attack upon the klan grew out of malice which resulted (1) from his
inability to get money out of the klan and (2) his connection with a
malignant anti-Christ conspiracy connected with "LB J and Katzen-
back [sic] and the source of all cash."

Policemen and sheriffs opposed to ku klux klan organizations were
subjected to the same scurrilous attacks. They were falsely accused of
being the recipients of graft, characterized as Negro lovers, accused

1 Discussed later In this chapter.

of having illicit sexual relations with Negro women, or being the
nfc°o« ^^te children. In some communities, law enforcement
officers attacked by the klan were working side by side with officers
who were klan members and who, at the same time, were receiving Man

31°^ ^ eSU A? f th T attac ^ s man y law enforcement personnel,
rather than defend themselves against attacks, either sought the favor
of the klan or else resolved to see no evil, hear no evil or speak no evil
it a klan were involved.
In North Carolina during 1965, members of a United Klans of Amer-

SitenWl a CI £ SS ? n the .P r °Pf^ °f * Greenville real estate
dealer who allegedly sold a home m a white residential area to a Negro

™£ ^ Mei f T^ ^ -^ MaVern alS0 threatene <* to beat a young
mentally retarded male if they again caught him in the company of
Negroes. Members were sent to Vanceboro to beat that city's mayor be-
cause he was helping Negroes to obtain employment. Fear of arrest
caused those klansmen so assigned to return to their klavern wfthout
carrying out the deed. Klansmen also intimidated a former member

Wm ?W tT SUSpe ^ d ™K ht S ive testimony against the Man by telling
inm that the word had been put out "to get you."

piln \ ,■ i WO Ne £ roes owned a dry cleaning and tailoring
establishment which was patronized by white residents. The owners
were also active m a bi-racial committee which was achieving much

he ? S2f t£ P - 2 /'a 1964 < five , klai ™< a t that time memCs of
the United Klans of America drove into Griffin in two automobiles.
At 2.00 p.m., they drove in front of the tailoring shop. While one

SdTffn? 1 ^ ed if -f-° SS m ^ he gr ° Und -' <* herS bra *<^ed weapons
United and Z n ° ^ W °<f upymg the street. The cross Vas
ignited and the klansmen fled. They were later apprehended and

S?2j 2 U t Gr Q TT% ^ Wit ! h ?° hlting a gUn -ta^ person After
a 5 . ° f v ne de * endan t resulted in a mistrial, the charts were
reduced to disorderly conduct Bail on the lesser charges was set, a?
$100 each and all forfeited bail by not showing up for trial An
by S Zrt°oX" P ° nS S61Zed hj P ° liCe WaS ret ™ ed to P the defendant"

BEATINGS ADMINISTERED BY KLANSMEN

Kb!v m!? ingt011 + ? ari ^' t a " the 0ri 2 inal Kni Sbte of the Ku
r™S'r? P - ? tmg A m ¥ ar6a . under the cover na me Anti-
mrX* wi£ * As ? ociatlon > administered beatings in order to
interfere with or prevent persons from obtaining rights guaranteed
by the Constitution of the United States. b g guaranteed

a COTtV.TJ 8, « 1965 ' # exam P le > fi ve of these klansmen assaulted
Li™ ? ! ker U l an ^ ttem P t to force him to leave Bogalusa. This

io rernZ 8 rO^T? fter $* ^ <2 B °? aluSa refused ^4 ™^
workeT S ° m the Clty ' includin g the assaulted

citl™!^^ V- r ' m ff ers of tbe same klan attacked five Negro
^^^^^T^ d th6ir - ^ ** «W -Iht

nt+? n i A ? nl -? l ' 19 K' a ! Clansman affiliated with the Original Knights
attacked, w ith a blackjack, the Negro leader of a march to protest

A photograph of this arsenal of weapons appears on p. 110 of this report.

102

THE PRESENT DAY KIT KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

103

denial of voting rights. Brother klansmen assaulted a bystanding
newsman and an F.B.I, agent, both present in performance of their
duties.

On May 19, 1965, members of the Original Knights used clubs, belts
and other weapons to disperse Negroes from Cassidy Park, a public
recreation area maintained by the city of Bogalusa.

Klan violence is not restricted to cases relating to civil rights ac-
tivities. Time and again klans have set themselves up as judges of
the moral virtues of the community and pass sentence upon those who
failed to meet klan standards. Punishment is often meted out by
klansmen who themselves do not adhere to the highest moral stand-
ards. Some of these have even been klansmen arrested and/or con-
victed in the past for such crimes as assault, rape or murder.

The klan sentence imposed in July 1961 on a white male residing
in the vicinity of Slidell, La., is a case in point. According to
the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, this man stayed
out late at night, drank and did not properly take care of his family.
These alleged facts had been obtained by the klan bureau of investi-
gation, maintained by the Pearl River klavern. It was decided that the
klavern's "wrecking crew" would straighten the man out by beating
him. As the man returned home one night from visiting a local bar-
room, he was apprehended by members of the "wrecking crew." He
was dragged into a woods, where each member of the crew took turns
at administering a severe beating with a heavy leather belt. The klans-
men offered no word of explanation for the beating, and the victim
was left lying in the woods. The klansmen were subsequently arrested,
tried and convicted for their involvement in this incident.

In Hattiesburg, Miss., committee investigation established that
at least five assaults by beating were carried out by klansmen. The vic-
tims were mostly white youths active in civil rights activities. One
victim was a minister whose home, in addition, was struck by bullets
during a gathering of civil rights workers. The klansmen were affi-
liated with either the White Knights or the United Klans of America,
Inc., at the time of their actions.

In Vicksburg, Miss., in March 1965, two white males estab-
lished to be members of the White Knights were eating in the Vicks-
burg Cafe, when a 77-year-old Negro entered the cafe. The white
males asked the proprietor, "You mean that thing can eat in here?"
The two then approached the Negro, threw raw eggs in his face,
knocked him to the floor and kicked him. Thereafter, the klansmen

Proceeded to smash the glass out of the front door and otherwise
estroy cafe property. Several days later, the same two men returned
to the cafe. This time they threw a molotov cocktail, which broke
against the cafe wall. Bent upon putting the cafe out of business,
they tossed a second through the cafe window causing extensive
damage.

On August 16, 1965, a white male was found dead near his home in
the vicinity of Meadville, Miss. This man ha*d broken with the klan
and was believed to be in the process of turning his knowledge of
klan activities over to law enforcement agencies. While the cause of
death was listed as heart failure, an examination of the body showed
evidence of a severe beating. There were welts from the bottom of
the feet to the top of the head. There was a hole in I Ik- lop of his head.

A split from the left side of his nose to his left eye was so deep that
the roof of the mouth was exposed.

On September 16, 1963, a group of klansmen affiliated with the
United Florida Ku Klux Klan, beat a white male resident of Calhoun,
Fla. The 62-year-old victim became a subject of klan vengeance
on an allegation that he had affairs with Negro women. Four klans-
men called at the victim's home. One klansman went to the door and
advised the victim that someone in an automobile desired to speak to
him. As he left his home, he was hit on the back of his head and forced
into the vehicle. In the automobile, he was hit with a pistol and forced
to lie on the floorboard where he could not be observed. Ten miles
from his home, he was further beaten, warned about his conduct, and
abandoned. Cuts sustained by the beating required five or six stitches
to close.

ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES

While klu klux klan leaders are apostles of non-violence when ques-
tioned about their stand on violence, numerous arrests of klan offi-
cers and members have established klans to be arsenals of destruction.

Caches of arms seized in the course of such arrests were never a
lone pistol or shotgun or even one or two of each. Most caches in-
cluded many shotguns, rifles and hand-guns in a variety of gauges and
calibers, as well as sizable quantities of ammunition. Manv seizures
disclosed stores of blasting powder, dynamite, fuses and caps. Others
uncovered home-made bombs complete in every detail. Many caches
included knives, bayonets and clubs. Some included items of disguise
such as hoods, masks and false faces of rubber made to resemble a
human or animal.

At least three active klansmen were discovered to be holders of
Federal firearms licenses and therefore a source of supply for klans-
men located in their area.

Klans were found to be actively promoting instruction in the use of
dynamite and other explosive devices, in the use of pistol and rifle,
and the use of judo and karate.

Photograph #1 (p. 104) shows items seized on March 28, 1966, from
the residence of Sam Holloway Bowers, Jr., imperial wizard, White
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi. Bowers, who had been
a witness before the committee on Feb. 1, 1966, was in March of the
same year being sought by law enforcement authorities investigating
the death of Vernon. Dahmer, a civil rights leader.

Photograph #2 (p. 105) represents the collection of weapons seized
on March 28, 1966, from the residences of Deavours Nix, chief of the
White Knights Klan Bureau of Investigation who also appeared as a
witness before the committee on Feb. 1, 1966, and Cecil Sessum, a
White Knights exalted cyclops. Both men were arrested on the same
date in connection with the death of the aforementioned Vernon
Dahmer. 6

Photograph #3 "(p. 106) shows some of the 43 items found in a
search of the residence and auto of Paul Dewey Wilson at the time
of his arrest on September 30, 1964, in McComb, Miss. Wilson was one
of a number of members of the United Klans of America arrested
and Subsequently convicted of participation in a series of bombings in

' 1'iirtlioi- reference to the Dalimcr enno will bo found on p, 123 of thin chapter,

104 THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT 105

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 1

This assortment of weapons, ammunition, and masks was seized Mar. 28, 1966, at the
residence of Sam Holloway Bowers, Jr., imperial wizard of the White Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi.

the McComb area. Police uncovered Russian surplus rifles and am-
munition, which committee investigation determined had been pur-
chased from a klansman who was also a federally licensed firearms
dealer, Louis A. DiSalvo. The cache in Paul Wilson's possession in-
cluded, in addition, pistols, billy clubs, a hypodermic syringe, a black
leatherette apron and hood, numerous pairs of gloves and a tin deputy
sheriff's badge. Both Wilson and DiSalvo invoked constitutional
privileges against self-incrimination when interrogated by the com-
mittee on Feb. 3, 1966, and Jan. 13, 1966, respectively.

Photograph #4 (p. 107) demonstrates that another arsenal of
weapons was maintained by Sterling "Bubba" Gillis, one of Wilson's
brother klansmen also convicted for his role in the McComb, Miss.,
bombings. The weapons were taken from Gillis' home at the time of
his arrest on October 5, 1964.

Photograph #5 (p. 108) depicts the home-made bombs stored near
the home of Emery Allen Lee, a member of the United Klaus convicted
in connection with the McComb bombings and a witness before (lie
committee on Feb. 3, 1966. At the time of his arrest, October 5, 1964,
police seized pipe bombs, capped and fused and ready lor detonal ion,
as well as hand grenades and a large quantity of blasting powder.

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 2

A collection of weapons seized Mar. 28, 1966, from the homes of Deavours Nix, chief
of the White Knights Klan Bureau of Investigation, and Cecil Sessum, a White
Knights exalted cyclops.

Photograph #6 (p. 109) shows weapons and ammunition which for
the most part were seized from the home of Myron Wayne "Jack"
Seale when he was arrested in Natchez, Miss., on October 23, 1964.
Seale, a member of the White Knights who transferred to the United
Klans, was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill in con-
nection with an assault on two civil rights workers near Port Gibson,
Miss., on October 31, 1963. Seale was interrogated by this committee
on February 3, 1966.

Photograph #7 (p. 110) indicates the size of the arsenal carried by
five members of the United Klans of America at the time of their
a nest on April 24, 1964, in Griffin, Ga., as a result of a cross-burning.
The cross was burned in front of a business owned by Negroes active
ill behalf of civil rights. Rifles, pistols and hundreds of rounds of

106

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

107

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 3

Four Russian surplus rifles and a black leatherette hood and apron, shown above, were
included in the arsenal seized from Paul Dewey Wilson, member of the United
Klans of America, at the time of his arrest in McComb, Miss., Sept. 30, 1964, in
connection with a series of bombings in the area [Paul Wilson Exhibit No. 1 —
Feb. 3, 1966].

ammunition were recovered from two autos used by the klansmen
during this intimidation effort. Each auto was also equipped with a
walkie-talkie radio. 7

Louis A. DiSalvo, of Bay St. Louis, Miss., was an official of the
White Knights as well as the holder of a Federal license to sell fire-
arms. Rifles and ammunition purchased by him were traced to other
known klansmen as well as Paul Dewey Wilson. .

In Bogalusa, La,, Howard M. Lee, a self-admitted klansman
affiliated with the Original Knights, also held a Federal firearms
license. During the period May-August 1964 alone, he purchased for
resale 651 weapons of all types. He also purchased a total of 21,192
rounds of ammunition during the same general period. In violation of
the Federal Firearms Act, Lee permitted other known klansmen to
sell for him rifles, hand-guns and ammunition in bulk quantities with-
out recording the identity of purchasers or by using aliases to cover
the true identity of many klansmen. Over 216 violations of the act

7 The details of this case were presented to the committee by Leo Ulnckwell, chief of
police of Grlffln, Qn„ who testified on Nov. 2, 10ttr>.

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 4

Weapons pictured above were taken from the home of Sterling "Bubba" Gillis,
another member of the United Klans of America, arrested Oct. 5, 1964, in connec-
tion with bombings in the McComb, Miss., area.

through such failure to record sales or through the use of aliases were
documented.

From Lee's records of sale covering 521 firearms and a considerable
quantity of ammunition, the committee was able to document num-
erous sales to klansmen in both Louisiana and Mississippi. These
klansmen were affiliated with the Original Knights (La.), United
Klans of America (La. and Miss.) and the White Knights (Miss.).

From available records, it was established that 237 sales of firearms
and/or ammunition were made in 18 cities in Louisiana, while 113
sales were made in 18 cities in Mississippi. A total of 117 other sales
failed to list city of purchaser, while no records existed on the sale of
148 firearms. Lee was arrested and convicted for violating the Fed-
eral Firearms Act and was serving time at the Federal penal insti-
tution in Texarkana, Tex., at the time of committee hearings.

In North Carolina, two klansmen, one an imperial officer of the
United Klans of America, were determined to be holders of Federal
firearms licenses. The records of sales produced by one, who testified
he was no longer a member, reflected only a few sales to known klans-
men. Records of the imperial officer, Robert Hudgins, were not ob-
tained, and lie. invoked constitutional privileges in refusing to answer
questions on sales to known klansmen,

108 THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT 109

~ it

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 5

Homemade pipe bombs— capped and fused and ready for detonation— as well as hand
grenades were seized in connection with the arrest of Emery Allen Lee on Oct. 5,
1964, for participation in the McComb, Miss., bombings [Emery Lee Exhibit No.
1— Feb. 3, 1966].

Courses in Firearms and Demolition Devices

Not only did klans provide secured sources for purchases of fire-
arms at cheap prices, but all major klans also provided courses of in-
struction in uses of rifles, shotguns and hand-guns. In addition, klans
gave instruction in the method of manufacture and use of detonating
devices of various descriptions and components.

The fact that in October, 1961, the present Imperial Wizard Kobert
M. Shelton and Georgia Grand Dragon Calvin Craig of the United
Klans of America attended such a course of instruction for Georgia
klansmen and others, creates strong evidence of their condoning the
use of explosives by the klan.

Likewise, official approval of the raising of funds for klansmen
arrested for acts of violence strongly indicates their condoning vio-
lence. The committee documented aid of this type with respect to the
klansmen involved in the murders of Lt. Col. Penn (Ga.) and Viola
Liuzzo (Ala.) and in the bombings in McComb, Miss. All of the klans-
men were affiliated with the United Klans of America.

A letter which the grand dragon for Georgia sent to Georgia klans-
men, soliciting defense funds for the McComb, Miss., bombers, demon-
strated that the klain was well aware <»f the implications which would

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 6

The weapons and ammunition photographed above, with the exception of two pistols,
were taken from the home of Myron Wayne "Jack" Seale when he was arrested iri
Natchez, Miss., Oct. 23, 1964, in connection with an assault on two civil rights
workers [Myron Seale Exhibit No. 4— Feb. 3, 1966].

be drawn from its defense of members accused of resort to violence.
The letter also illustrated the United Klans' policy of refusing to
acknowledge klan membership by such defendants. The Georgia grand
dragon wrote :

Due to the arrest of several white Mississippians who have been charged in con-
nection with the recent bombings in McComb, Miss. The Grand Dragon of Miss
advises me that it is nessesary [sic] to go to the assistance of these men who
have been implicated by the press that they are Klansmen. However the only
thing they had concering [sic] the Klan was a complimentary card of some
sort. As you know we do not condone nor advocate such acts of violence, but we
beleive [sic] these men are victims of circusmstances [sic]. Miss, needs your
help send your donations to

E. L. McDaniel,
G.D. Miss., P.O. Box lit', I.

Natchez, Miss

110

THE PRESENT DAY KU KL-TJX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

111

''III

Arms and Explosives Photograph No. 7

The rifles and pistols pictured above, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition,
were taken from -two autos used by members of the United Klans in carrying out an
intimidating cross-burning in Griffin, Ga., Apr. 24, 1964. Also pictured are the
charred remains of the cross and a sign taken from one of the autos referring to a
Spalding Co. klavern of the United Klans [Leo Blackwell Exhibit No. 1 —Nov. 2,
1965].

At the October 1961 demonstration, held near Macon, Ga., klan
officials and klansmen were instructed in the manufacture and use of a
booby trap, how to rig various types of fuse caps to dynamite, how
to prepare a short duration time bomb with cigarette and matches con-
trolling the elapsed time, how to start an intense fire with powdered
sugar, potassium chlorate and sulphuric acid, and how to destroy an
automobile with a jar full of gasoline and a firecracker. Following
these demonstrations, those present engaged in practicing the use of
revolver and rifle.

In October 1964 on the farm of Exalted Cyclops Robert L. Bing
in Henry Co., Ga., United Klansmen were again instructed in the use
of explosives. Many demonstrations of October 1961 were repeated,
although the instructors, as well as the students, were different klans-
men. At this time, however, those present were also instructed in the
use of Molotov cocktails, how to disassemble and assemble an M-l
rifle and given instruction in planning and executing guerrilla war-
fare techniques of capturing a radio station and power plant.

The committee obtained a memorandum signed by the grand dragon
of the Georgia Realm of the Dnited Klans, dated January 17, 1965
lhe first sentence read: "We will start judo, karate, and rifle and
pistol faring training on Monday, January 25, 1965, at the Henrv
County #60 Klavern."

Individual klan leaders are known to be proficient in the manu-
facture and detonation of explosive devices. The present United Klans
of America grand dragon for Virginia, while an official of the or-
ganization in North Carolina, demonstrated an incendiary device for
a group of klansmen. Although this device contained the same in-
gredients as a device demonstrated in Georgia in 1961, the method of
assembly differed.

Committee investigation established that in Mississippi, White
Knights klansmen were instructed in the art of judo. White Knights
leaders emphasized arson because of the difficulty of tracking down the
perpetrators. Consequently, most demonstrations were on the manu-
facture and use of Molotov cocktails and/or incendiary devices.
White Knights also specialized in the use of ammonia which they
would spray from plastic squeeze bottles.

Dynamite is an easily accessible item in rural areas of the United
States. Oil and gas exploration in Southern States, as well as off-shore,
makes blasting powder readily available. This easy access presents
many opportunities to klansmen bent on violent acts as a means of en-
forcing their policies. Members of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan
in December, 1963, burglarized the dynamite shacks of a Jacksonville
construction company, stealing 13 cases of 60% nitro-dynamite and
large quantities of electric blasting caps and fuses. Part of this dyna-
mite was used in the Godfrey bombing. 8

Members of the National Knights in Georgia, transferred to Ohio
a quantity of dynamite from their Georgia cache. It was transported
to Ohio by National Knights members from that Northern State.

The number of bombings in Mississippi, in which both White
Knights and United Klansmen were involved, established possession
of large quantities of dynamite and blasting powder by these klans.
Members and officers of the White Knights were urged to possess suf-
ficient arms and ammunition "to accomplish any assigned mission."
At a meeting in October 1964, Julius Harper, then grand dragon of
the White Knights, 9 directed his klansmen having explosives to bury
them for the present time for possible later use. This date coincides
with the arrest of United Klans members for a series of bombings in
the McComb area. 10

BOMBINGS AND ARSON

The McComb, Miss., Bombers

From April to October 1964, more than 25 bombings and/or
acts of arsons took place in the vicinity of McComb, Miss. While
the methods of carrying out these violent acts showed a remark-
able degree of similarity, the committee was unable to establish each
act as the responsibility of a klan or its members. Committee investi-
gation, together with sworn testimony, however, definitely established
klan involvement in the majority of the crimes.

'The Godfrey bombing In dismissed farther on p. 117 of this chapter

iiiimu.m!'"".'.! 1''".!:'!!!: \[" r] "'\ w !\ u '"'''"',>'* 'V ""! 1 "^ 1 "!' ,l " , White Knighti organisation,

112

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

113

'•I

! in

The klan responsible for these acts was the United Klans of Amer-
ica, Inc. The klansmen involved belonged to klaverns which the United
Klans had organized in the McComb area. The violent acts were car-
ried out by the membership of a klavern headed by Exalted Cyclops
Ray Smith and another klavern organized in August 1964 under Ex-
alted Cyclops Paul Wilson, a direct participant in the violence.

Paul Wilson threw a three-stick dynamite bomb at the resi-
dence of a Negro preacher in order to scare him into abandoning his
civil rights activities. He performed this act pursuant to a telephone
request by a man, who, according to Wilson, identified himself only
as being a klansman. The caller gave Wilson instructions on the place
to be bombed and the place where Wilson could pick up the dynamite
bomb to be used.

Billy Earl Wilson, an admitted former klansman, gave the commit-
tee considerable information on klan violence during interviews by the
staff, as well as in sworn testimony in executive and public hearings.
Billy Wilson admitted his involvement in klan bombings in the Mc-
Comb area while a member of the United Klans of America, assigned
to either the klavern headed by Ray Smith or Paul Wilson.

Following the formation of the new klavern headed by Paul Wil-
son, violent acts were assigned to members of the new klavern by
means of a drawing. A hat containing slips of paper, each with the
name and address of an intended victim, was placed on a table fol-
lowing the klavern meeting. Klan members were requested to draw
"their job." Only the klansman drawing a slip knew the identity of
the victim. Likewise, it was the klansman's responsibility to plan the
violent act, obtain the dynamite bomb or material necessary for arson,
and recruit his accomplice in such act if it could not be performed
alone.

Drawings were held at United Klan klavern meetings held on Sep-
tember 1 and again on September 15, 1964. Following the drawing
on September 1, five dynamite bombs were exploded on the night of
September 7. The places bombed were (1) a pool hall in a "white"
section of Bogue Chitto, (2) a Negro church in Auburn, (3 and 4) the
residential property of Hugh Washington and the grocery store of
Booker T. Gutter, Negroes in Summit and (5) the residential property
of Allen Coney, a Negro school principal in Magnolia. On September 9,
Billy Wilson and other klansmen bombed the property of a Negro
preacher, James Baker, in the McComb area with the dynamite bomb
which had not been used on the victim assigned to Billy Wilson during
the September 1 drawing.

Following the drawing of September 15, dynamite bombs were ex-
ploded on September 20 at the Society Hill Missionary Church, a
Negro church used for civil rights activity, and at the 'residence of
Mrs. Alyene Quinn, a Negro restaurant operator. On the 23rd of Sep-
tember, bombs were exploded on the properties of Negroes Matthew
Jackson and Artis Garner. All of these bombings were in the McComb
area.

Billy Wilson admitted involvement in the bombing of Alyene Quinn's
residence 11 and identified his accomplices as fellow klansmen Paul
Dewey Wilson, Jimmy Prinston Wilson, and Ernest Zeeck. The dyna-
mite bomb used was obtained from klansman Emery Allen "Al" Lee,
who possessed a sizable quantity of bombs. Lee wrote a letter brag-
ging about the role he played. "* * * I am the one who is the demoli-
tion expert who made all the bombs and told the others where to go
with them," he wrote."I am proud of my part, * * *"

In addition to the Quinn bombing, Jimmy Wilson was involved with
Paul Wilson and Murphy John Duncan, Jr., in the arson of the
Negro Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church near McComb on
July 18, 1964. Duncan, the treasurer or klabee of the Ray Smith
klavern, later in 1964 became state treasurer or grand klabee of the
Mississippi Realm of the United Klans of America. He was also a

Residence of Alyene Quinn in McComb, Miss., following bombing on Sept. 20, 1964,
by members of the United Klans of America.

11 A photograph Indicating the devantatlng nature of the bomb attack on the Quinn home
nppeni-N on thiH pngo. Two children iiHleep in the homo at the time mlraoulOUBly eicaped
Injury.

112

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

113

Hi
i hi

Billy Wilson had joined the United Klans of America in July
1964, at the age of 22. Within three weeks of his initiation, he was
recruited by his cousin, Paul Wilson, to bomb the residence of Charles
Bryant, a Negro supporter of civil rights activities. The victim was
the brother of Curtis Bryant, an NAACP leader whose own residence
had been bombed on April 28, 1964. Accompanying the Wilsons on
the night of July 26, were Hilton Dunaway and Gerald Lawrence,
also members of the United Klans of America. Others were involved
in the planning and execution of the bombing of Charles Bryant's
home. The dynamite bomb was made by a fifth party whose identity,
however, is unknown. The automobile used was parked in a woods
without a driver by a person or persons unknown to Billy Wilson.
Following the formation of the new klavern headed by Paul Wil-
son, violent acts were assigned to members of the new klavern by
means of a drawing. A hat containing slips of paper, each with the
name and address of an intended victim, was placed on a table fol-
lowing the klavern meeting. Klan members were requested to draw
"their job." Only the klansman drawing a slip knew the identity of
the victim. Likewise, it was the klansman's responsibility to plan the
violent act, obtain the dynamite bomb or material necessary for arson,
and recruit his accomplice in such act if it could not be performed
alone.

Following the drawing of September 15, dynamite bombs were ex-
ploded on September 20 at the Society Hill Missionary Church, a
Negro church used for civil rights activity, and at the residence of
Mrs Alyene Qumn, a Negro restaurant operator. On the 23rd of Sep-
tember, bombs were exploded on the properties of Negroes Matthew
Jackson and Artis Garner. All of these bombings were in the McComb
area.

Billy Wilson admitted involvement in the bombing of Alyene Quinn's
residence 11 and identified his accomplices as fellow klansmen Paul
Dewey Wilson, Jimmy Prinston Wilson, and Ernest Zeeck. The dyna-
mite bomb used was obtained from klansman Emery Allen "Al" Lee
who possessed a sizable quantity of bombs. Lee wrote a letter brag-
ging about the role he played. "* * * I am the one who is the demoli-
tion expert who made all the bombs and told the others where to go
with them,]' he wrote."I am proud of my part. * * *"

Residence of Alyene Quinn in McComb, Miss., following bombing on Sept. 20, 1964,
by members of the United Klans of America.

11 A photograph Indicating the devastating nature of the bomb attack on the Quinn honii
iipiH'nrH on iiiIh pnK(>. Two children asleep in the home al the time miraculously escaped

Injury.

1 101 1

114

THE PEE SENT DAY KIT KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

delegate to the national convention (klonvokation) held in Birming-
ham in September 1964. ; .

Emery Allen Lee and another klansman, Sterling "Bubba" Gillis, at
whose place of business klavern meetings were held, took part in the
bombing of the Society Hill Missionary Church, referred to above.

White Knights "Projects"

The United Klans of America, which was responsible for the bomb-
ing and arson in the McComb area, did not have exclusive jurisdiction
in this type of violence. The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of
Mississippi carried out bombings and arson with equal vigor against
individuals and organizations it designated as enemies.

Committee investigation established that violent acts were described
within the White Knights as "projects" or "jobs." Prior to November
1964, when a temporary moratorium was declared on projects of arson,
bombing and murder, the White Knights had 97 projects in proposed
or planning stages. In the Jones County area of Mississippi, from May
1964 to October 1965, over 40 acts of assault, bombing or arson were
carried out against persons or property. Victims were either active in
the field of civil rights or were otherwise contributing to desegrega-
tion. White Knights Imperial Wizard Bowers at a klan meeting held
south of Jackson on July 18, 1965, bragged that over 16 acts of arson
involving buildings in Laurel were the responsibility of the White
Knights.

The Laurel newspaper Leader -Gall was bombed on May 10, 1964.
This bombing was planned by the White Knights because of the anti-
klan position taken by that paper. The quantity of dynamite used was
small in order not to damage an adjacent bowling alley in which the
White Knights Imperial Wizard leased space for vending machines
which he owned.

The Council of Federated Organizations headquarters in Laurel
was burned on February 17, 1965. According to members and officers
of the White Knights klavern at Ellisville, this burning was a project
of the State organization under the jurisdiction of the imperial
wizard.

Outside Jones County, the White Knights were also responsible for
"projects'* of bombing and arson. On August 27, 1964, a bomb was
thrown through the rear window of a building located in Jackson,
Miss., which housed the offices of the Northside Reporter, a weekly
newspaper published by Hazel Brannon Smith. Mrs. Smith had been
the subject of much criticism by the klan for her editorial policy on
racial issues. The blast destroyed equipment and knocked a four-foot
hole in the rear wall of the building. On September 6, 1964, at a White
Knights State executive meeting, the grand giant reported that he had
been asked by Jackson klansmen to obtain permission to eliminate Mrs.
Smith. On the night of the bombing, Mrs. Smith was in Atlantic
City, N. J.

At a meeting of White Knights State officers on October 11, 1964,
discussion centered around the bombing of the Council of Federated
Organizations headquarters in Vicksburg, Miss. The imperial wizard
made the statement : "They will not find out who did that one as I sent
someone in from the outside."

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

115

Alabama

The work force of the W. S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Com-
pany, Bessemer, Ala., is largely Negro. Sixteen employees classified
as inspectors, all white, petitioned the National Labor Relations Board
for representation by the United Brick and Clay Workers Union. Al-
though trade union issues were advanced to justify this request, the
inspectors actually desired to form a new local not dominated and
controlled by Negroes. Contract demands by the United Brick and
Clay Workers local led to a strike by the local against Dickey in
February 1965. The majority of Dickey employees, affiliated with
the United Steelworkers, continued to work under the terms of their
binding contract.

The exalted cyclops of the Bessemer klavern of the United Klans
of America was the leader in the formation of the United Brick and
Clay Workers local. At least one other inspector was identified as
being a United Klansman.

With the beginning of picketing on February 8, klansmen not em-
ployed by Dickey assumed prominent roles in the strike action. With
the arrival of klansmen such as Collie Leroy Wilkins, who was to gain
notoriety as a defendant in the Viola Liuzzo murder case, violence
against non-striking employees and plant property began. On Feb-
ruary 18, a bomb was exploded, damaging plant property, and the
vehicle of a worker was struck by a shotgun blast. Between this date
and March 12, when the company obtained an injunction against un-
lawful acts, property of the company and cars of employees were ex-
tensively damaged. Methods of destruction ranged from placing sugar
in the gasoline tank of a company truck to explosions on company
property and the sabotage of gas mains used to supply the kilns. In
spite of the injunction, nine explosions causing considerable damage
occurred between March 12 and August 9, together with damage to
automobiles of employees by gun blasts. Committee investigation
established that six members of the United Klans not employed by
the firm were involved in the violence at the Dickey plant. No arrests
or convictions grew out of the violence.

North Carolina

Between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on January 24, 1965, three different
explosions occurred in New Bern, Craven County, N.C. Two of the
explosions occurred almost simultaneously outside the St. Peter's
A.M.E. Church, where a meeting of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People was in progress. The third explosion
occurred at Oscar's Mortuary outside New Bern in Craven County.
The mortuary was owned by Oscar Dove, a member of the NAACP
active in civil rights efforts in Craven County.

Arrested and charged with the bombings were three white males.
One of them, Raymond Duguid Mills, 12 served as the exalted cyclops
of a United Klans of America klavern known by the cover name,
Craven County Improvement Association. The three pleaded guilty
and received suspended sentences on June 3, 1965.

"Mills wiih Interrogated by the committee la executive session August 24, 1065. The
committee subsequently voted to make his testimony public.

116

THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLUX KLAN" MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU. KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

117

After the arrest, the North Carolina grand dragon of the United
Klans of America indicated the Man was being falsely accused because
a klan investigation had established the innocence of the arrested klan
officer. Following the guilty plea, the grand dragon denounced Ex-
alted Cyclops Mills and claimed that he had been banished from the
klan because of the klan's alleged intolerance of violence.

Committee investigation established from original minutes of the
klavern that, back on August IT, 1964, the Craven County Improve-
ment Association took the following action : "We also decide to burn
3 cross [sic] one at Oscer Funerl [sic] Home, one on Brices Creek
Koad, and one in Pamlico County. The meeting was then ajourind
[sic]. The Klexter built the cross for us." 13

•^a^i.

'C*,^Z*Hsi.

,./:■

/, , .

-*?,

^ts^P

"J
/ i

K~^.

tJ*-*

$ /j o rf

Minutes of a meeting on Aug. 17, 1964, reveal decision of a North Carolina klavern of
the United Klans, also known as the Graven County Improvement Association, to
carry out intimidating cross- burnings [Raymond Mills Exhibit No. 2 — Aug. 24,
1965].

"The minutes of tills klavern mooting of AiiKUHt 17, M»iil, aro COprodUCOd On thll page

Mills was never actually banished from the United Klans. However,
according to evidence obtained by the committee, he was suspended
for his own protection soon after his arrest. Following his suspension,
klaverns of the United Klans of America in North Carolina were re-
quested to contribute to his defense.

Florida

In 1963, a permanent injunction against any interference with the
integration of the public schools in Duval County, Fla., was issued by
the U.S. District Court, Jacksonville, Fla. In September of that year,
Donald Godfrey, a six-year-old, became the first Negro to enroll in
Lackawanna Elementary School, Jacksonville.

In protest against this act of integration, members of the United
Florida Ku Klux Klan planned various actions to force withdrawal of
Donald, Godfrey from the previously all white elementary school.
Wives of klansmen, some with students enrolled in Lackawanna,
formed picket lines protesting the integration. When this was not suc-
cessful, klansmen attempted to scare the Godfrey family by firing a
flare gun into the residence. However, the flare gun failed to function.

When such efforts did not force the withdrawal of Godfrey from
school, the klansmen began planning more severe methods of retalia-
tion.

In December, some eight members of the United Florida Ku Klux
Klan broke into two construction sheds in Jacksonville and stole 13
cases of 60% nitro dynamite. Some of this dynamite was broken down
and packed into a one-gallon can which had previously held a paint
thinner. The dynamite was capped and fused and placed under the
Godfrey residence. At 2:55 a.m., February 16, 1964, the dynamite
bomb exploded, causing considerable damage to the structure. No occu-
pant of the residence was injured by the blast.

Following the blast, William Sterling' Rosecrans, the klansman who
made and planted the bomb, was spirited from Jacksonville to St.
Augustine by fellow klansmen. With the assistance of a UFKKK offi-
cial in that area, the klansmen obtained employment for Rosecrans,
who used an alias to conceal his true identity.

From the evidence obtained by the committee, there is a strong
suspicion that Rosecrans was later arrested because certain klansmen
turned him in with the hope of collecting a reward offered for the
apprehension of the person or persons responsible for certain railroad
bombings which took place during the period of the Godfrey bombing.
Rosecrans, under polygraph examination, was cleared of involvement
in the railroad bombing. However, his involvement in the Godfrey
bombing was established. He thereafter confessed to his crime and
told of the roles he and other members of the United Florida klan
played in the Godfrey affair.

Rosecrans was sentenced to serve seven years, but the five other
klansmen who were indicted for their involvement were acquitted.
One was acquitted on July 5, 1964, following their first trial. Follow-
ing a second trial, the remaining four were acquitted on November 25,
1964.

The Godfrey bombing case offers an illustration of how ku klux
klan organizations, while separate and autonomous, work together in

118

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

119

m
It

order to perpetuate the secrecy of klandom and discourage klansmen
from informing on members of the brotherhood involved in crimes.
On November 21-22, 1964, before the second trial of TJFKKK mem-
bers was terminated, the United Klans of America held a public re-
cruiting rally in Jacksonville. United Klans of America leaders stayed
at the Capri Motel while in Jacksonville. At the motel United Klans
of America officers met with UFKKK defendants. The UKA's Im-
perial Klonsel Matt Murphy was serving as one of the counsel for some
of the defendants, although the UK A had no organizational tie with
the United Florida Ku Klux Klan. At this same motel meeting, fur-
thermore, the UKA agreed to "take care of Eosecrans" if the opportu-
nity presented itself. Certain klansmen from Alabama were assigned to
the task of eliminating Eosecrans. Eosecrans, however, remained in
Federal custody. Legal action initiated by the klans to free him from
jail was unsuccessful. It appears that klandom planned to free Rose-
crans from prison in order to kill him as an object lesson to others.

Louisiana

In July 1965 leaders of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan met at Covington, La. Part of the discussion at this meeting
related to the burning of churches throughout the State of Louisiana.
The churches were those that were being used for meetings or dis-
cussions on civil rights matters. (Many churches selected by the klan
for destruction, whether in Louisiana by the Original Knights, or in
other States by different klans, became targets not on the basis of facts
about such meetings but on the mere suspicion that meetings were
held. Investigation by the committee disclosed that some churches
burned had never been used for civil rights activities.)

Following the meeting in Covington, klansmen in the Slidell-Pearl
Eiver area of Louisiana held meetings to plan church-burnings in their
area. These meetings were attended by members of the ' wrecking
crew," a unit within each klavern of the Original Knights. At these
meetings the Hartsell Methodist Youth Center and the Providence
Baptist Church, both of Slidell, were selected by klansmen for de-
struction by fire. They planned to soak each building with gasoline
and fire the gasoline after their departure by means of a fuse consist-
ing of a cigarette and wooden matches. The cigarette and matches were
assembled in such a manner as to cause the cigarette to ignite the
matches, and the matches to ignite the gasoline-soaked lumber of the
church buildings. The amount of get-away time was controlled by the
distance between the matches and the lighted end of the cigarette.
At about 1:00 a.m. on August 5, 1965, the churches selected were
burned as planned.

Based on information obtained from one of the involved klansmen,
six members of the Original Knights, including the informant, were
arrested. They were charged not only with the burning, but with an
illegal beating dealt with in another section of this chapter.

THOU SHALT NOT KILL

Sudden Death in Georgia

At about 4 :10, a.m. on July 11, 1964, a 1959 Chevrolet sedan stopped
for a traffic signal in Athens, Ga. Bearing District of Columbia license
plates, the car was occupied by three Negro men enroute to the Dis-
trict of Columbia from Fort Benning, Ga. Lt, Col. Lemuel Penn and
the other two occupants of the car had four hours earlier completed a
tour of active duty with the U.S. Army Reserves.

While waiting for the signal to turn green, they were observed by
John Howard Sims, Cecil William Myers and James S. Lackey, three
members of the United Klans of America who followed the reservists'
car as it left Athens.

As the cars raced along Highway 172, near Colbert, Ga., Lackey,
who was driving the car occupied by klansmen, began to pass the re-
servists' car driven by Lt. Col. Penn. As the klansmen drew abreast,
Sims and Myers fired sawed-off shotguns, killing Lt. Col. Penn.

Sims, Myers and Lackey had been in the klan for some time. Sims
had been active in St. Augustine, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala. They
were all, in "1964, members of the Clarke County Klavern No. 244,
United Klans of America.

This klavern's history dates back to 1960, when the U.S. Klans,
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., chartered Oglethorpe County
Klavern No. 244, with headquarters at Crawford, Ga., 14 miles east of
Athens.

In February 1961 the klavern became a part of the newly-chartered
United Klans of America, later headed by Robert M. Shelton of Tus-
caloosa, Ala.

New members were recruited from Athens when the klan exploited
the scheduled desegregation of Athens public schools in 1963. Late that
year, the klavern moved to Athens, with Joseph Howard Sims as one
of the klavern officers.

In March 1964 Sims was arrested as a result of an altercation with
a Negro during the klavern's picketing of the Varsity Drive-In Res-
taurant. At this time, Athens klansmen were acquiring numerous shot-
guns and cutting the barrels off to a length of 18*4 inches (if cut to 18
inches, they would be illegal weapons). These klansmen were heavily
armed while attending klavern meetings.

Differences over the use of violence resulted in the formation within
the klavern of a moderate faction led by the exalted cyclops and a
militant one led by Sims. Investigation of the factional strife by State
officers of the United Klans in March 1964 resulted, not in the expul-
sion of the militants, but in the creation of a new, separate klavern for
such militants as Sims and other persons later involved in the Penn
murder. This new unit was given the name of Clarke County Klavern
No. 244.

On June 21, 1964, a shotgun loaded with buckshot was discharged
into the rear door of Apartment 3 of the Broad Acres Apartments
in Athens, Ga. Two of the buckshot pellets struck John Clink, 19
years old, Negro male, in the face near the right eye. Two pellets also

120

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

121

struck Alice Fair, a 13-year-old Negro girl, one on the nose and one
on the lip. Investigators established that the shotgun blast was dis-
charged from one of two cars at the scene. The cars were owned by-
members of the Clarke County Klavern No. 244, Herbert Guest and
Denver W. Phillips, who were later implicated in the Penn killing.
Guest, Phillips and Paul Strickland, also a member of Klavern No.
244, were subsequently arrested for the Broad Acres shooting. 14

In spite of its public pronouncements against violence, the United
Klans took no action to suspend its members pending judicial findings
as to their guilt or innocence in the Penn murder case. Instead, offi-
cers of the Georgia Realm of the United Klans met on August 18,
1964, to plan the defense of klansmen involved in the Penn case. Fol-
lowing the meeting, Imperial Wizard Shelton sent a letter to all
United Klans units in seven Southern States asking klan members to
donate $1.00 each to a defense fund. Hampton Turner and Tom
Whitehead, officers of Clarke County Klavern No. 244, were designated
as custodians of the fund which amounted to nearly $3,000. 15

Viola Liuzzo

At approximately 8 :00 p.m. on March 25, 1965, an Oldsmobile sedan
stopped for a traffic signal in Selma, Ala. Bearing Michigan license
plates, the car was occupied by a middle-age white woman, Viola
Liuzzo, and a 19-year-old Negro youth, Leroy Moton, who were en-
route from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., after participating in a civil
rights march.

While waiting for the signal to turn green, they were observed by
Collie Leroy Wilkins, Jr., Eugene Thomas, William Orville Eaton
and Gary Thomas Rowe, Jr., all members of the United Klans of
America. The klansmen were also enroute to Montgomery in a car
owned and driven by Eugene Thomas.

The cars proceeded along U.S. Highway 80 towards Montgomery.
About 20 miles east of Selma, klansman Thomas, the driver of the
klansmen-laden vehicle, passed the car driven by Mrs. Liuzzo. As the
car drew abreast Eaton and Wilkins opened fire with small-arms weap-
ons. Within seconds, the Liuzzo vehicle veered from the highway, com-
ing to a stop in an adjacent field. Mrs. Viola Liuzzo was dead from a
shot fired at her by the klansmen. Her passenger, Leroy Moton, was
unhurt.

Collie Leroy Wilkins, Jr., 21, a Fairfield auto mechanic, Eugene
Thomas, 42, a Fairfield steelworker, and William Orville Eaton, 41,

" On June 30, 1964, Guest and Strickland were convicted of discharging firearms within
the city and fined $100 each. Phillips and Strickland were charged with assault with
Intent to murder, but have not been tried on the charges.

After the death of Lt. Col. Penn on July, 11, 1964, the State of Georgia riled murder
charges against Sims, Myers, Lackey and Guest. A county grand jury returned murder
indictments against the first three and held Guest as an accessory after the fact. A jury
trial in a State court ended in the acquittal of Sims and Myers on Sept. 4, 1964. Lackey
was not brought to trial on the State charge.

tA Federal grand jury on October 16, 1964, Indicted six persons on charges of violating
Federal law by conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate members of the
Negro race and in particular, Lemuel A. Penn and his companions on the night of the
fatal shooting. Indicted were Sims, Myers, Lackey, Guest, Denver Phillips and George
Hampton Turner, all members of the Clarke County klavern of the United Klans. Jury
trials held in Federal court in Athens. Ga., between June 28 and July 8, 1966, resulted
in verdicts of acquittal for Lackey, Guest, Phillips and Turner. Kims and Myers were
found guilty and sentenced on July 9 to 10 years' Imprisonment, th axlmum punish-
ment under the Federal law. The conviction of Sims and Myers has been appealed,

1B A check constituting :i donation in the defense fund by n Louisiana klavern of the
United Klaus known am the Bernlce Sportsman's Club in reproduced on p, L21,

*%»

.'H

One of the checks reflecting donations by klansmen to the legal defense of members of
the United Klans on trial as a result of the murder of Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn. The
above check was a contribution from a Louisiana klavern of the United Klans using
the cover name Bernice Sportsman's Club [George Harris Exhibit No 5 — Tan 11
1966]. J ' '

a former steelworker from Bessemer, were all members of Bessemer
Klavern No. 20 of the United Klans of America known by a cover
name, "Young Men's Social Club."

Gary Thomas Rowe, Jr., was a member of the United Klans of
America klavern in Birmingham known as Eastview Klavern No. 13.
Rowe had been a member of a klan since 1957, when he joined at the
request of the FBI for the purpose of furnishing that agency with
knowledge of klan activities.

While no evidence was uncovered that the klan had ordered an at-
tack on Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, her death resulted from klan action. Her
death stemmed from the fact that the klan had within its membership

122

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

123

»3l

violence-prone persons like Wilkins, and from the fact that the klan
had ordered its members to keep under surveillance the activities of
civil rights advocates engaged in a protest march between Selma and
Montgomery, Ala. Wilkins, Thomas, Eaton and Kowe had been
ordered to Montgomery by Eobert Thomas of Birmingham, the for-
mer exalted cyclops of the Eastview Klavern and, at that time, the
great titan for the State of Alabama. The four klansmen had, just
prior to the killing, returned to Selma from Montgomery and were
again enroute to Montgomery when they spotted the Liuzzo auto-

Wilkins, Thomas and Eaton participated in klan activities which
resulted in the bombing of the Dickey Clay Manufacturing plant out-
side Bessemer, Ala., both prior to and following the Liuzzo killing.
Wilkins had been convicted in November 1964 for illegally possessing
a sawed-off shotgun and was on probation at the time of the Liuzzo
murder. In fact, his traveling to Montgomery was in violation of his
parole. Wilkins, Thomas and Eaton were known to possess and carry
firearms. Therefore, in ordering these klansmen to Montgomery, the
klan must accept the responsibility for Mrs. Liuzzo's murder. 16

Murder in Mississippi and Louisiana

Committee investigation established the involvement of a klan in
the murders of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James
Chaney at Philadelphia, Miss., the murder of Henry Dee and Charles
Moore of Meadville, Miss., and the arson murder of Vernon Dahmer
at Hattiesburg, Miss. .

Klan members involved in these Mississippi murders were, at the
.time the acts occurred, affiliated with the White Knights of the Ku
"Klux Klan of Mississippi.

With respect to the three civil rights workers, Schwerner, (jood-
man and Chaney, who were murdered in July 1964, the investigation
disclosed that Schwerner, referred to by the klan as "goatee, had been
marked for elimination by the klan. Under the organizational struc-
ture of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a "project" of murder
(or to use the klan designation, "extermination,") required the ap-
proval of the imperial wizard. Investigative evidence and testimony
reflected that the extermination of Schwerner was approved by Sam
Bowers, imperial wizard of the White Knights. The death of Good-
man and Chaney seems to have resulted merely from the fact that
they were with Schwerner when he was seized.

Following the recovery of the bodies, their killing was discussed at
several secret meetings of the White Knights. At a meeting on June
24, 1964, at Jackson, Miss., Billie Buckles, who held the high office ot
grand giant within the White Knights, discussed this murder in these
words: "Now they know what we will do. We have shown them what
we will do and we will do it again if necessary."

* Wilkins was acquitted by a jury on Oct 22, 1965 of a. murder charge fought by the
State Thomas was acquitted of the same charge by a jury action on bopt. £i, uw>.
Eaton died ? ! a heart attack in March 1966 before he had been tried on State charges.

Murder not being a Federal offense, all three men were convicted by a jury on Dec .8,
1065 of Federal charges involving criminal conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Mrs.
Viola Liuzzo Bach received the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. They were re-
leased on* bond 'pending appeal of .his conviction. In April 1987, an appe late court In
New Orleans, La., affirmed the conspiracy convictions of Wilkins and lliomus.

Committee investigation established the White Knights affiliation
of a number of the individuals who, together with Imperial Wizard
Bowers, have been indicted for these murders. However, because trials
of those indicted are still pending, the committee abstains from de-
tailed discussion of klan membership and the facts which it gathered
regarding the step by step actions of these klansmen which resulted
in the murders. 17

The solidarity of klans in behalf of klansmen called to account for
acts of violence was demonstrated by the fact that in December 1964.
during a rally of the United Klans of America in West Monroe, La.,
inquiry was made into the absence of Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton.
A Louisiana officer of the LTnited Klans of America explained that
Shelton could not be present because he was in Mississippi contacting
klaverns for the purpose of raising funds to defend the individuals
arrested by the FBI in connection with the Philadelphia, Miss.,
murders.

Vernon Dahmer, an NAACP official, died as the result of burn;
sustained in the fire bombing of his residence at Hattiesburg, Miss.,
on January 10, 1966. Committee knowledge regarding the involve-
ment of members of the White Knights in the death resulting from
fire bombing was not brought up during the committee hearings. Nor
is it included in this report because of the pending trial of those in-
dicted on Federal charges of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of
Vernon Dahmer. 18

On May 2, 1964, two 19-year-old Negro youths were walking on a
country road near Meadville, Miss. A pick-up truck with sev-
eral white male occupants stopped, flashed toy deputy sheriff badges
and told the youths., Henry Dee and Charles Moore, that they were
wanted for questioning.

On July 12 and 13, 1964, the lower halves of two bodies were found
m the Mississippi River channel, 12 miles south of Tallulah, La.
The remains were clothed in blue jeans. The legs were tied together
with binder twine similar to that used to tie hay bales. In October,
the upper parts of the bodies were recovered. The victims were identi-
fied as Henry Dee and Charles Moore.

Investigation by Mississippi State Highway Patrol and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation resulted in the issuance on November 6, 1964,
of warrants for the arrest of James Ford Seale and Charles Marcus
Edwards for the murder of Henry Dee and Charles Moore.

Edwards, following his arrest, admitted to the arresting officers
that James Seale, himself, and another whom he refused to identify,
picked up Dee and Moore with the intention of whipping them.
Edwards cited Dee as a "peeping torn" but had nothing derogatory
to report about Moore.

Without reporting Dee's alleged crime to police authorities, Ed-
wards admitted that Dee and Moore were taken to a field and whipped.
Edwards claimed both were alive when he left them.

^^ndtctrnents on federal conspiracy charges, originally handed down in this case in
iat>5, were dismissed in 1966 on the basis that the iury selection system did not represent
a cross section of the population. New Federal indictments on Feb. 27, 1967, named 19
defendants, including Imperial Wizard Bowers. Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, and his deputv.
Cecil R. Price.

IS Indictments on Federal conspiracy charges handed down in .Tunc 1966 were dismissed
for the same reasons cited, in the dismissal of the Philadelphia. Miss.. Indictments. New
indictments On Feb. 27, 1907, named 12 persons in the conspiracy to violate (lie rights of
vernon Dal r. They Included Imperial Wizard Bowers, the chief of till Klan Burnt f

Investigation, Denvours Nix, and n White Knights exulted eye n, <Yell V. Senium,

124

THE PRESENT DAT KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

Edwards, James Ford Seale, his brother, Myron Wayne "Jack"
Seale, and Ernest Parker, all of whom were involved in or possessed
knowledge of the Dee-Moore tragedy, refused to testify when wit-
nesses before the committee in January and February 1966,

Committee investigation established the Man membership, not only
of Edwards, James and Jack Seale and Ernest Parker, but also others
involved in the Dee-Moore murder.

Warrants of arrest issued against Edwards and James Seale were
dropped in January 1965 and the case assigned for further investi-
gation to determine the identity of others involved. No further action
had been taken in this matter as of October 1966.

Ernest R. McElveen, who was arrested and charged in the slaying
of one Negro deputy sheriff and the wounding of another in Wash-
ington Parish, La., in June 1965, was established by committee in-
vestigation to be a member of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan in Bogalusa, La.

CHAPTER VII. BACKGROUND OF SOME KLAN OFFICERS
AND MEMBERS

"On the sacred oath of the klansmen, I declare that our leaders are
men of high character," Imperial Wizard Shelton assured the audi-
ence at a klan rally in October 1961. "A klansman," Shelton added,
"is not a common man. * * * He is judged by his character, his rep-
utation, his decency, his loyalty and his love for his fellow man."

The constitution of the United Klans of America, which Shelton
heads, states that it is the Man's purpose to unite persons "whose morals
are good; whose reputations and vocations are respectable; whose
habits are exemplary; who are of sound minds * * *." The consti-
tution of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan specifies that its
members should be "sound of mind, sober in habits, of good moral
character and not guilty of rape, murder, or treason."

The backgrounds of some of the klan officers and members lead
the committee to conclude that klans not only have failed to exclude
persons of less than exemplary character, but have actually attracted
the very type of individual allegedly proscribed by the organizations.

Some klan officers and members have records of arrests and con-
victions on criminal charges both prior to and during their association
with the organization. The reputation of many others is scarcely en-
hanced by their histories of financial irregularities — ranging from
petty theft to bad debts — alcoholism, gambling, psychological prob-
lems, or association with other extremist groups such as the American
Nazi Party.

Grand Dragons or the United Klans or America

Close to a dozen of the individuals selected by Imperial Wizard
Shelton to head the State subdivisions of his United Klans of Amer-
ica do not have the impeccable records implied by Shelton's public
utterances.

The highest official of the United Klans in three States during 1965
had each previously been active in the American Nazi Party. Roy E.
Frankhouser, the grand dragon for the United Klan's Realm of
Pennsylvania, wore the Nazi party's storm trooper uniform when he
distributed Nazi literature on the streets of Philadelphia in December
1962. In the summer of 1963, he distributed the same literature in Lan-
caster, Pa. The ANP magazine, Stormtrooper, issued in the summer of
1965 referred to Frankhouser as an "American Nazi unit organizer"'
as of April 1965. In connection with his agitation in behalf of extrem-
ist groups in 1963, Frankhouser was convicted of disorderly conduct
in Arlington, Va., and Baltimore, Md.

Daniel Burros, who as king kleagle headed the New York State
apparatus until his suicide in October 1965, had been extremely active
in both the American Nazi Party and the National Renaissance Party
as late as 1963. During 1960, while engaged in Nazi party work, Burros

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was convicted in Washington, D.C., on four occasions for disorderly
conduct and on a fifth occasion for defacing public property. A 1964
conviction in New York City for conspiracy to riot — involving various
officers of the National Renaissance Party in addition to Burros —
was subject to an appeal. Committee investigation disclosed that three
of Burros' lieutenants in organizing for the United Klans in New York
State were also past or present members of American Nazi Party.

Frankhouser invoked constitutional amendments in refusing to an-
swer committee questions on February 10, 1966, regarding his activity
in behalf of Nazi and other extremist organizations. A subpena issued
for the appearance of Dan Burros had not been served at the time
of his death. The leader of the United Klans in a third State had
identified himself to law enforcement officials in the past as a mem-
ber of the American Nazi Party. This individual was not questioned
by the committee in its recent klan hearings, however.

A number of the United Klans grand dragons have regularly carried
arms on their person or in their autos. One of them, prior to the assump-
tion of klan office, had been convicted and fined for carrying a pistol and
for assault and battery. After becoming grand dragon, the same
individual was arrested for a third time on charges of carrying a
pistol, shooting in a city and assault and battery. The case did not
involve any organized klan activity and its disposition is unknown
to the committee.

Two other grand dragons have gained reputations for their indul-
gence in alcohol and both have been arrested for driving an auto
under th# influence of intoxicating beverages. The apprehension of
one of the men occurred several years prior to his assumption of klan
office. At the time of his arrest, he had wrecked an auto which he was
driving without the permission of the owner and he was accompanied
by a female companion other than his wife. The same individual has
an undesirable discharge from the U.S. Army, based on absence with-
out leave.

Grand Dragon Robert E. Scoggin was ensconced in command
of the South Carolina organization of the United Klans when
he was arrested by Spartanburg, S.C., police on May 29, 1965, and
charged with drunk driving and disorderly conduct. Scoggin, who
also held the national klan office of imperial kladd in the period
1961-1964, refused to answer questions concerning his klan activity
or arrest record when interrogated by the committee on October 28,
1965.

Less than honorable discharges from the armed forces were also re-
ceived by three additional leaders of State organizations of the United
Klans. One grand dragon received a general discharge from the Army
for ineptness and lack of adaptability after four courts martial on
charges ranging from absence without leave to drunk and disorderly
conduct in a public place. The same klan officer had been arrested for
reckless driving prior to joining the klan, and while in a lower State
office of the United Klans, had again been arrested for disturbing the
peace. The head of a UKA State organization holding the title of king
kleagle had received a general discharge from the Army after a
psychiatric examination led to a conclusion that the individual was
unfit for military service. The grand dragon in another State was
discharged from the Navy after psychiatric examinations revealed

he suffered from severe anxiety reactions and did not meet minimum
standards for enlistment or induction.

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

During the committee's recent hearings, three grand dragons of the
United Klans were interrogated regarding questionable financial prac-
tices. Each refused to answer the committee's questions on grounds of
possible self-incrimination.

During the appearance of the aforementioned Grand Dragon Scog-
gin of South Carolina on October 28, 1965, the committee introduced
evidence that the klan official was receiving a $324 monthly disability
compensation from the Veterans Administration. The rate of com-
pensation was based in part upon a finding of "unemploy ability.''
Scoggin claimed income of only $574 during 1964 due to his inability
to work "without the use of canes." The income was derived, according
to his sworn statement to the VA, by making and selling potholders
and fishing flies and through the purchase and sale of used plumbing.
Scoggin had filed no income tax return for 1964.

The committee staff then introduced a communication from the
police department in Scoggin's hometown of Spartanburg stating that
no one in the law enforcement agency knew of Scoggin "ever using
a cane" and no canes were relied on by Scoggin at the time of his
arrest in May 1965. No canes were in sight when Scoggin testified in
Washington. Other documents made part of the hearing record showed
that more than $15,000 had been deposited into Scoggin's two personal
bank accounts during the year 1964 when his alleged self-employment
income was only a few hundred dollars. It was also es f ablished that
Scoggin was in fact self-employed as a plumbing and electrical con-
tractor. A grand dragon, furthermore, customarily receives a portion
of the dues and initiation fees collected by klaverns in his State. Can-
celed checks introduced at the committee hearings showed that klavern
payments which included payments of a national klan tax had been
cashed by Scoggin at a gas station, restaurant, grocery and other
Spartanburg stores. Scoggin did not report this type of income to the
Veterans' Administration.

Following Scoggin's appearance before the committee, the Veterans'
Administration reduced the grand dragon's compensation rate to the
amount payable to an "employable" disabled veteran.

The United Klans grand dragon for Mississippi, E. L. McDaniel,
had repeated financial difficulties prior to his full-time employment
as a State klan leader. McDaniel, who appeared as a witness before
the committee on February 3, 1966, was fired by a Natchez, Miss.,
manfacturing company in 1959 on the technical charge of abusing
plant rules and regulations. Actually, he was charged with stealing
money from the coin container of an automatic milk dispensing
machine. In 1961, while employed by a steel plant in California,
McDaniel filed a voluntar-y petition in bankruptcy and was discharged
as bankrupt. Among his unpaid debtors were a finance company, a
department store and an auto dealer. McDaniel's entrance into the
United Klans was also reportedly motivated by financial difficulties.
During 1964, McDaniel had served as a province investigator for the
White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The committee has been
informed that White Knights Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers was

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determined to put an end to what he considered abnormally high
expense accounts submitted by McDaniel in connection with klan
work. The disagreement between Bowers and McDaniel over expenses
allegedly propelled McDaniel into joining the rival United Klans of
America in September 1964.

Grand Dragon Marshall Eobert Kornegay, whose appointment as
chief of the Virginia Realm was announced by Imperial Wizard
Shelton in August 1965, is a former Raleigh, N.C., insurance sales-
man. After joining the United Klans in 1964, he became a grand
titan for the Raleigh area and in early 1965 was elevated to grand
klokard (lecturer) for the North Carolina organization. Kornegay
went on the United Klans payroll in the summer of 1965 at a salary
of $150 a week plus expenses. He became a full-time paid klan
employee in spite of a record of questionable practices in the insurance
business.

Appearing as a witness before the committee on October 21, 1965,
the now grand dragon of Virginia refused to comment on reasons
for his dismissal from two North Carolina insurance agencies.
Kornegay had been fired by one agency in February 1957 after a
shortage of some $342 was discovered in his account of premium col-
lections. His license was subsequently cancelled by the North Carolina
Department of Insurance. Some months later, a friend paid the
amount owed by Kornegay to the insurance company. However, the
committee has learned that this benefactor has never been reimbursed
by Kornegay.

Following restoration of his insurance license, Kornegay obtained
employment with another insurance company which dismissed him
in June of 1965 because of shortages in his accounts totalling approxi-
mately $1435. The sum owed included not only shortages in premium
accounts but also bad checks, promissory notes, and bills for non-
business telephone calls.

While Kornegay served as an officer in the North Carolina State
apparatus of the United Klans in 1964-1965, he was able to make a
profit from a group hospital-surgical insurance plan which he pro-
moted within the State klan organization. The committee found that
his commissions on sales of such insurance to klansmen amounted to
more than $3500 in a, 6-month period, and that additional commis-
sions had been paid to North Carolina Grand Dragon Jones and
another State klan officer. The group policies were cancelled when
insurance company officials discovered that a klan organization was
involved. The resentment of North Carolina klansmen who had pur-
chased such policies reputedly was partially responsible for Korne-
gay's assignment to the neighboring State of Virginia as grand
dragon.

Kornegay has a reputation as a gun-toter and tough talker at
klavern meetings. He has talked of the need for beating and killing
Negro civil rights demonstrators and klansmen who are too talkative.
Late in 1964, he demonstrated incendiary devices to klansmen meeting
at his home.

The United Klans grand dragon for Ohio, Fly mi Harvey, was
an unresponsive witness before the committee on February 11, 1966.
Prior to assuming the United Klans post in the spring of 1 965, Harvey
had served as Ohio grand dragon for the National Knights of the

Ku Klux Klan. An undercover agent within the latter klan testified
on February 10, 1966, that Harvey's conduct as leader of the National
Knights led members of a Columbus klavern to file written charges
against him late in 1964 and to ask for his removal from office. The
letter of complaint, which was also made part of the hearing record,
accused Harvey of unlawfully using klan funds, making slanderous
statements against fellow klansmen, failing to "maintain a sound
reputation with his creditors," and "drunkenness."

Some Lessee Officers and Members of United Klans

Committee investigations revealed that many individuals with
police records had not only attained klan membership but also joined
the leadership hierarchy in a number of States, both North and South.
An unusually high percentage was found in the North Carolina
Realm of the United Klans.

Police files on Charles Douglas "Bud" Deese, who was elected State
secretary (grand kligrapp) of the United Klans North Carolina
organization in January 1964, were entered into the record when he
appeared as an unresponsive witness before the committee on October
26, 1965. A month after his election, he had been arrested during a
civil rights demonstration and convicted on a charge of carrying a
concealed weapon. Arresting officers had also charged him with caus-
ing a riot, interfering with a police officer and using indecent and
profane language. In June of 1965 he was found guilty of assault on
a female. He had been convicted on the same charge in 1962, prior
to his elevation to office in the United Klans. His record also included
a still earlier conviction on the serious charges of breaking and enter-
ing, larceny and robbery.

Donald E. Leazer, who held the post of North Carolina State secre-
tary of the United Klans at the time of his appearance before the
committee on October 22, 1965, had been found guilty only 2 months
earlier on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. Fines and a 60-
day suspended prison sentence were imposed in this case.

Fred Lee Wilson, State treasurer (grand klabee) for the United
Klans of North Carolina at the time he was called as a witness on
October 25, 1965, had a reputation as a small time gambler. He pur-
chased wagering tax stamps from the Internal Revenue Service for
the fiscal years of 1964 and 1965. The committee was informed that he
engaged in a betting operation known as "tip-boards." His police rec-
ord shows convictions in 1949 for drunkenness and disorderly conduct
and for violation of lottery laws. A second conviction for violation of
lottery laws in 1960 led to a 6-month suspended prison sentence.

A titan" was installed in office in the North Carolina klan in spite
of a prior record of three 30-day suspended jail sentences on charges
of malicious damage. The record was a result of his propensity for
hurling objects through the windows of homes and stores. One of his
targets was an establishment owned by a Negro whose children at-
tended a desegregated school.

The head of the security guard of the United Klans organization
in a Northern State, who also serves as exalted cyclops of a local
klavern, is still under parole as a result of the latest in a series of
criminal offenses. This individual was arrested on two occasions while
still a teenager on charges of auto theft and theft, and lie received ;i

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suspended sentence in one instance. As a young adult, he was arrested
in 1962 on a charge of carrying and using a dangerous weapon and
again in 1963 on a burglary charge. The latter charge resulted in a
conviction for unlawful entry and the carrying and use of a danger-
ous weapon. He was consigned to prison until October 1964, when
he was paroled.

Financial chicanery by the exalted cyclops of a klavern of the
United Klans in North Carolina was cited by witness George L. Wil-
liams as one reason for his own withdrawal from the klan after a
4-month membership in 1965. Williams, who testified on January
28, 1966, explained that the exalted cyclops had borrowed $500 from
an individual on the pretext the sum would be used as cash bond to
obtain the release of jailed klansmen. The klavern officer actually
used the money for the purchase of a car, and the klan organization
repaid the loan to avoid undesirable publicity, Williams said. In this
instance, the exalted cyclops forfeited his klan office.

The United Klans, according to its constitution, is "founded on
sterling character" and it invites all men "who can qualify" to join
the klan and "share with us the glory of performing the sacred duty
of protecting womanhood." The words of the klan were contradicted
by the performance of a klavern official in Louisiana early in 1966.
The officer was convicted in January of attempting aggravated rape
on a 13-year-old Negro girl. A recorded interrogation made public
during the trial disclosed that the defendant had admitted both the
criminal attack and membership in the United Klans. The in-
dividual previously served as an officer of a klavern of the Original
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The United Klans pose as a protector of womanhood was further
damaged when the police of De Kalb Co., Ga., removed 40 guests at a
party in a local klavern headquarters in 1963 and booked them on
charges of maintaining a disorderly house, later dismissed. The police
report detailed obstreperous and immoral behavior at a party at-
tended not only by men and women but also by a number of children
between the ages of 5 and 17. Among those who had been arrested
were William B. Crowe and William Allison Anderson, who were in-
terrogated by the committee November 1, 1965, regarding informa-
tion that the two men had served as instructors or a United Klans
demolitions course. Crowe's police record dates back to the 1940's,
with entries indicating two escapes from prison and an arrest on a
charge of drunk and disorderly conduct in a room with a woman.

A group of United Klansmen were arrested and convicted of dis-
orderly conduct for burning a cross in the spring of 1964 in front of a
Negro-owned cleaning establishment in Griffin, Ga. A byproduct of
ihe arrest was the discovery of an arsenal of weapons in the cars of
klansmen involved in the cross-burning and an astounding police rec-
ord previously compiled by one of the klansmen, Allen Lee Bayne.
Bayne, who owned one of the weapon-laden cars, was discovered to
hail from Alabama, where he had spent much of the period from 1947
to 1957 in prison. He had been repeatedly convicted and sentenced for
such serious offenses as grand larceny, burglary and receiving stolen
property. Penitentiary escapes were also part of his record. Bayne
was questioned by the committee during its public hearings on No-
vember 2, 1965, and responded by invoking the fifth amendment.

A United. Klans grand dragon who resigned from his office and the
klan a month prior to his appearance before this committee testified
that Imperial Wizard Shelton actually impeded efforts to eliminate
less desirable elements from office in the organization. Ralph Pryor,
grand dragon for the State of Delaware until his resignation in Janu-
ary 1966, told the committee on February 10 that the vice president,
and chief organizer of his State klan had been "stealing" from the klan
by cashing checks received from persons applying for membership and
failing to turn the money into the State office. Pryor said he tried to
banish the man but was informed he lacked the authority. His efforts
to persuade Shelton to take action met with a hostile reception. More
powerful klan officers actually befriended the Delaware vice presi-
dent, who was eventually assigned to klan work in another geographi-
cal area. The former grand dragon also described his unsuccessful
effort to get rid of an obvious sex deviate holding office in the Delaware
klan, and the cold response from higher klan officers when he protested
entrance of Nazis into the klan leadership. Pryor eventually came to
the conclusion that the klan was full of unstable little men looking for
power.

Individuals Active in Smaller Klans

A number of officers and members of smaller klan organizations
questioned -by the committee in public hearing were found to have far
from impeccable records.

Although the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan claim
to unite those whose "habits are exemplary," the Imperial Wizard Sam
Bowers has been arrested and convicted of a local offense involving
possession of intoxicating liquor.

Deavours Nix was named grand director of the White Knights
Klan Bureau of Investigation in June 1965, despite a record of an
arrest and fine for assault in 1962 and another arrest on the same
charge in 1964, disposition of which is unknown. Within 2 months
after his elevation to chief of the KB I, Nix was twice more arrested
for assault, but charges were eventually dismissed in both cases. In
February 1966, however, Nix received a 30-day jail sentence and $150
fine on charges which included resisting arrest, carrying a concealed
weapon and speeding. He is presently also under indictment in connec-
tion with the slaying of civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer on January
10, 1966. J Both Bowers and Nix invoked the fifth amendment when
questioned by the committee on February 1, 1966.

Edward Willard Fuller in 1964 and early 1965 was exalted cyclops
of a White Knights klavern in a Louisiana town near the Mississippi
border. Later in 1965, he joined the United Klans of America. The
committee questioned Fuller on January 4, 1966, regarding his arrest
in connection with a shot-gun assault on a Negro in April 1964. Com-
mittee investigation has also revealed that Fuller is a gambler by trade
and has been employed as manager of a roadhouse where the special-
ties of the house include gambling and prostitution. The committee
obtained statements by two different individuals regarding beatings
allegedly administered to them by Fuller early in 1965. In one of the
cases, Fuller was further accused of firing a gun into the man's auto.
Laic in 1965, Fuller was arrested for aggravated assault, but the dis-

1 Sec i>. 128 for further reference i<> hmh case.

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THE PRESENT DAY KU KLTJX KLAN MOVEMENT

133

«:

position of the case is not known to the committee. Fuller has a record
of nine arrests between 1947 and 1958, with no known convictions. The
charges involved investigation for rape, finally dismissed, drunken-
ness, fighting and disorderly, carrying concealed weapons, gambling
and reckless driving.

The acting head of another presently-operating klan has in the
past received a 30-day jail sentence on charges of reckless driving, col-
lision and drunkenness. The top official of yet another recently-formed
klan has previously been convicted of armed robbery and carrying
a concealed weapon.

That klan leaders do not consider police records a barrier to a career
with the klan was strikingly demonstrated by Imperial Wizard James
Venable's testimony before the committee. Venable stated he had
served as legal counsel for Colbert Kaymond McGriff and Earl Hoi-
combe when they were arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct in
the spring of 1964 as a result of burning a cross in front of a Negro
dry cleaning establishment in Griffin, Ga. Venable acknowledged
that the defendants were members of the rival United Klans at the
time he represented them but were later accepted into the National
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which Venable heads. Holcombe and
McGriff served on a "degree team" which administered oaths to new
members at rallies held at Oregonia, Ohio, in June 1965 and Stone
Mountain, Ga., in September 1965. They also served as security guards
at a klan rally near Lodi, Ohio, in September. Venable furthermore
had supplied Holcombe with klan membership applications and blank
klavern charters bearing the imperial wizard's signature for the
purpose of organizing new National Knights klaverns in the State
of Georgia.

In December 1965, Holcombe and McGriff were arrested in Craw-
fordville, Ga., on a charge of pointing a weapon at another. The dis-
position of the case is not known to the committee. The two men ap-
peared as witnesses at committee hearings in February 1966, at which
time they were also questioned regarding their involvement in the
transport of dynamite from Georgia to Ohio in the summer of 1965. 2
Both men refused to answer committee questions on grounds which
included possible self-incrimination.

Two witnesses who were members of the Ohio organization of the
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan had recently been arrested for
armed robbery. Verlin IT. Gilliam, also admittedly the vice president
of a Columbus, Ohio, klavern, and Daniel N. Wagner had been ar-
rested for robbing a Columbus merchant in August 1965. They ap-
peared before the committee on February 11, 1966, and the following
October were tried and convicted of the robbery charge. Wagner,
admitting participation in the crime, received a 1 to 25 year prison
sentence. Gilliam, who did not admit guilt, was sentenced to 10 to
25 years in the Ohio penitentiary.

Wagner had testified frankly before the committee. In addition to
his activities in behalf of the klan, he acknowledged an arrest as a
juvenile for burglary and petty larceny ; an undesirable discharge from
the Army in 1964 on charges including possession of unlawful weapon
and attempted escape from an Army stockade ; and an arrest in Ohio
in May 1965 for carrying a concealed weapon at a klan rally. Gilliam

3 See also p. 111.

invoked constitutional privileges against self-incrimination in re-
sponse to many questions about the klan. The committee learned he had
previously received a 5-year sentence for armed robbery in Cali-
fornia and had made an escape from San Quentin prison farm while
serving that sentence.

Another individual closely associated with the National Knights
in Georgia was incarcerated in the summer of 1965 on charges based
on his involvement in an alleged counterfeit ring and a personal
assault.

A 33-year-old member of the United Florida Ku Klux Klan, who
was admittedly involved in organized klan violence in 1964, had been
"in trouble" since the age of 12. He periodically ran away from home
and was rated incorrigible by school authorities. In school psychiatric
tests, he expressed a hatred for his parents. By 18, he had been con-
victed and sentenced to jail for burglary. Eight years later he was
again sentenced to prison for aiding and abetting a jail break. In the
interim, he had also served a sentence on a drunk charge. Psychiatric
and other interviews of the man while he was in his twenties revealed
acute anti-social reactions, lack of confidence, an excessive drinking
problem and a violent dislike for Negroes.

Who Is in the Klan and Why

Former United Klans Grand Dragon Pryor had viewed klan leaders
as unstable little men looking for power. Another former grand dragon
confidentially informed the committee that he believed the leaders
primarily valued the klan as a money-making enterprise. To an under-
cover agent within the National Knights organization in a Northern
State, the leaders appeared to be activated by hatreds— of the Negro
and communism — and under the illusion they could eliminate people
they didn't like.

It appears to the committee that ku klux klan organizations offer
at least four basic attractions to its officers : (1) financial rewards ; (2)
nil opportunity to exercise authority over others; (3i) publicity; and
(4) an outlet for extremists' views and hatreds.

The record shows that the United Klans of America provided full-
time paid employment for Imperial Wizard Shelton and at least six
of his grand dragons. Several of the grand dragons could also drive
around in Cadillacs, and in at least one case the auto was admittedly
a gift from rank-and-file klansmen.

Although the committee's information on the background of klan
leaders is by no means complete, available records indicate that at
least a half-dozen of the individuals who served as grand dragons
of the United Klans were high school drop-outs. One dragon's educa-
tion was limited to elementary school. Three dragons were known to
have finished high school and only one person — who for a short period
headed the organization in a Northern State — possessed a college de-
gree. Imperial Wizard Shelton was dropped by the University of
Alabama for poor scholarship after he obtained failing grades in every
subject for two semesters.

Age-wise, the imperial wizard and most of his State klan leaders
are in their thirties. Several active independent klans in Louisiana and
Mississippi are headed by men in their forties. A number of other

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135

less successful klans are under the direction of men in their fifties and
sixties or older, several of whom were virtually incapacitated by
physical ailments.

The bulk of the klans' rank-and-file membership, a former United
v ; /" Klans official from a Southern State testified, is drawn from unedu-
cated elements of the population who have never attained the social
status they would like to achieve. Such persons are also seeking com-
radeship but would not be at home in civic clubs such as Rotary and
the like, this witness observed. An additional motivation attributed
to those who join the klan is hatred for Negroes, Jews and Catholics —
a motive which allegedly was increasingly important "the deeper
South you go." The ex-klan officer blamed such hatreds on a "kind of
brainwashing." Committee investigation tended to confirm this
assessment.

Two rank-and-file klansmen who testified in the committee's public
hearings gave substantially similar reasons for their entrance into
and eventual departure from klan organizations. George L. Williams,
a 45 -year-old welder, joined the United Klans at one of its cow pasture
rallies in North Carolina in the summer of 1965. After listening to
the speakers, he signed up because he believed the klan could "get
the colored out of the schools," keep the races from mixing, and
"kind of hold down the colored from mixing in the South."

Williams quit the klan before the year was out, after witnessing klan
beatings and financial chicanery on the part of klan officials. "I believe
now," Williams told the committee, "that klan life is the lowest life
that you canget."

John H. Gipson, a 30-year-old logger with a seventh grade educa-
tion, joined the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana
in 1963 on the presumption that klan goals would be pursued by bal-
lots, boycotts and economic pressure, but not with violence. Before he
left the organization, Gipson himself was an admitted participant in
a klan-organized flogging of a white man who was accused of neglect-
ing his family.

, Although much attention has been devoted to the blemished records
of many persons attracted to klan organizations, testimony from wit-
nesses and other evidence gathered during the committee's investi-
gation show that in some communities klans enrolled persons with
considerable education and with responsible positions in governmen-
tal or business affairs in their community. Klan infiltration of law
enforcement agencies and elected governmental offices has been dis-
cussed in a preceding chapter. In the testimony of Williams and Gip-
son, klan membership was ascribed to a chief of police, a justice of the
peace, a preacher and a junior high school principal. Gipson identi-
fied the principal as being an exalted cyclops of a klavern of the
Original Knights. The individual eventually abandoned his klan
office, but not the klan, for fear of losing his school post. Committee
investigation disclosed klansmen professing to be ministers of the
gospel in many States. Klansmen also held such positions as municipal
judge, school board member, State highway department employe and
city engineer. A number of owners of local business establishments
as well as an active civic leader were found in the klan. And the head
of a volunteer fire department was discovered to be in charge of cross-
burnings conducted by his local klavern.

Only a small proportion of the individuals identified as klansmen I
held positions of responsibility in their communities, however. The'
committee is aware, nevertheless, that the klan has received financial
and moral support from a number of persons of some prominence in
their own communities who have rejected klan membership only for
reasons of expediency. A United Klans klavern in North Carolina
encouraged such support with a letter which declared :

We know that you would like to become a member of your local Klan, but due
to your business or other reasons you cannot afford to, * * *

We would like you to know that you can help fight for the freedom of all
whites just as hundreds of others are doing, by making a donation to your local
Klu [sic] Klux Klan unit. * * *

Your donation will be of top secret and will not be revealed to anyone.

The klavern's letter instructed that checks be made payable to an in-
nocuous-sounding front name which the klavern utilized — the "Cald-
well Improvement Association."

Ex-klansman Gipson testified that the presence of a minister or
school officer in the klan served as a powerful attraction for new mem-
bers. Both Gipson and Williams agreed, however, that most of the
more responsible individuals tended to drop out of the klan after they
found out what they were actually involved in. In Gipson's opinion,
in fact, the entire rank-and-file membership of the Original /Knights
was subject to a rapid turn-over, V

CHAPTER VIII: SUMMARY

The present-day ku klux klan movement, unlike the monolithic
klan of old, is comprised of at least 17 separate and independent klan
organizations. Its more than 16,000 adherents are attached to hundreds
of local units (klaverns), most of which are located in the States
which formerly comprised the Southern Confederacy.

Committee investigations and hearings into the activities of the
major klans demonstrated nevertheless that klans operate — today as
in the past — as conspiracies to deprive certain citizens of rights guar-
anteed by the Constitution.

x Klans moreover have continued to rely on terrorism as an instru-
ment for achieving so-called "white supremacy" and other objectives.
This terrorism runs the gamut from telephoned threats or intimi-
datory cross-burnings to various forms of physical violence. Klan in-
volvement in kidnappings and beatings, arson, bombings, and out-
right murder in recent years compels the committee to view a klan
as a vehicle for death, destruction, and fear.

Arrests of klan officers and members frequently have led to the
uncovering of caches of arms. In addition to rifles, shotguns, and
handguns in quantity, klansmen maintained stocks of explosive de-
vices. Klan units have sponsored courses of instruction for their
members in the use of firearms and the art of demolition. Robert M.
Shelton, the imperial wizard of the United Klans of America, has
himself attended such a course.

Public disavowal of violent intent by klan officials are unworthy of
credence in light of other statements by the same leaders and the
actions of klansmen on both officer and rank-and-file levels. A study of
the evidence amassed during the committee's investigation leads to the
conclusion that klans and their leaders actually incite disrespect for
the law and encourage acts of violence.

This report has taken note of the public activities engaged in hi
some klans for the purpose of increasing the size of their treasuries
and obtaining new recruits. The report shows how even legal Man
activity, such as speech-making, picketing, literature distribution,
boycotting and "politicking," has sometimes had the calculated /effect
of goading sympathizers into committing acts of violence. The bulk
of a klan's activity, however — and that which is most menacing to the
rule of law and maintenance of order — is zealously shrouded from
public scrutiny.

'" Secrecy becomes a way of life for a klansman from the moment
he takes a series of oaths customarily administered upon his entrance
into a klan. In addition to obedience to klan officers, a klansman swears
to protect the secrecy of the order. The committee found that, in prac-
tice, the oath binds klansmen into protecting law violators within
the klan, no matter how heinous their crimes.
186

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

137

The secrecy which cloaks a klan organization is essential to the
success of klan vigilantes who take it upon themselves to accuse, con-
vict and punish fellow citizens for behavior disapproved by the klan.

Secrecy has also facilitated infiltration of klansmen into positions
of public trust. The committee found concealed members of klans in
elected and appointed offices in State and other local governmental
subdivisions. The proven presence of klansmen in local law enforce-
ment agencies, although relatively few in number, was particularly
disturbing in view of the conflict between the klan oath and oaths to
uphold the law.

The only objective which klans advance with any degree of sin-
cerity is their proclaimed determination to maintain racial segrega-
tion and "white supremacy." Self-portraits of klans as patriotic
organizations fighting communism and defending the Constitution
(and even all of "Christian civilization") must be regarded as efforts
to deceive the public. Klan activity actually constitutes an impediment
to the advancement of such goals. ""xT

"According to witnesses before this committee, an individual assumes
leadership in a klan for one, or a combination, of these motives : finan-
cial rewards; opportunity to exercise power over others; publicity;
an outlet for extremists' views and hatreds.
„_ The committee discovered that a substantial number of officers and
members of klan organizations possessed disreputable backgrounds. In
a number of instances, klansmen were involved in felonies, prior to or
during their association with a klan. Other klansmen had histories
of petty theft, bad debts, alcoholism, gambling, psychological prob-
lems, and/or associations with other extremist groups such as the
American Nazi Party. Speaking generally, a kjansman does not rep-
resent the average citizen of an American community but a com-
munity's lowest common denominator.

Although a klan can occasionally draw such respected professionals
as high school principals, ministers, lawyers, and public officials, for
the most part klan membership fits the description of it contained in a
recent opinion by a three-judge Federal court involving members of
the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

None of the defendant klansmen is a leader in his community. As a group,
they do not appear to be representative of a cross-section of the community,
Instead they appear to be ignorant bullies, callous of the harm they know they
are doing and lacking in sufficient understanding to comprehend the chasm be-
tween their own twisted Konstitution and the noble charter of liberties under
law that is the American Constitution. 1

The fanatical nature of klan programs and policies obviously en- s
courages enlistment of the least responsible elements in a community.
The klan system of organization also facilitates their admission, even
if a klan leader were to emerge with serious intentions of employing a
"screening" system to prevent the admission of undesirables other than
Government "informers." The committee found that many klan lead-
ers exercise little control over the activities of local klaverns. Strict
security procedures adopted by klans to protect their membership from
public disclosure have at the same time deprived top klan officers of
information as to the identity of the bulk of klan membership.

1 Opinion Issued Dec. 1, 1965, by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana,
New Orleans division.

I.'W THE PRESENT DAY KTJ KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

The present-day leu klux klan movement has inherited its organiza-
tional structure to a great extent from Col. William Simmons' Kniirhts
of the Ku Klux Klan. The adroit use of publicity and exploitation of
the organization for moneymaking purposes— Which were character-
istics of Simmons' klan in the years following World War I— have
been emulated, albeit less successfully, by such modern organizations
as the United I Klans of America and the National Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan. Klan ritual devised and emphasized by Simmons has
fallen into virtual disuse, however. The preoccupation 'of present klans
> with racial issues has undoubtedly contributed to their remaining a
regional movement, by and large. In these respects, currently oper-
ating klans resemble their hooded brethren of the post-Civil War era.

Klan Organizations and the States

oA nu ^J be ^ , of klans Possess corporate charters issued by various
states, lhe klan customarily advises the State in its application for
charter that it is a fraternal organization operating not for profit but
lor charitable and benevolent or educational purposes

In possession of charters from the State of Georgia are the United
Klans of America, Inc., the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,
Inc., the U.S. Klans, and the Improved Order of the U.S. Klans. The
State of Tennessee has chartered the Dixie Klans, Knights of the Ku
Jllux Klan while Louisiana has issued a charter to the Original
Ku Klux Klan of America, Inc.

The refusal of such States as Texas and Ohio to issue charters to
klan organizations has not prevented klans from organizing and re-
cruiting in those States.

A New York statute requires klans to disclose their officers and
members to the secretary of state. In spite of this provision of law,
the United Klans organized within the State without meeting the
statutory requirement. fe

Two of the chartered Mans, the United Klans of America and the
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, obtained certificates of author-
ity to do business as a "foreign corporation" in the State of North
Carolina in July 1965. The United Klans had actually been in busi-

n ^ S x? ^ t ^ for v four ^ ears P rior t0 the nlin S of this application
with the North Carolina secretary of state.

Its application provided additional evidence, as shown below, of the
UKA s contradictory stances on the relationship of its State organiza-
tions to its national structure. It informed the North Carolina secre-
tary of state that the State grand dragon, J. R. Jones, was to be con-
sidered the registered agent in the State for a klan whose "principal"
office was Shelton's headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

wirt^S ? ra g°n J °^ S ' °£ July 20 > 1965 ' filed franchise tax reports
™LS PoT l T P e P a / tmenfc of Avenue covering the fiscal
years 1964 and 1965 Copies of these returns, introduced in evidence
during the committee's public klan hearings, showed that Grand Drag-

l J n had a ? rme ? th ^ £° . Norfch Ca ^ lina organization of the
klan had no assets and no liabilities.

Other evidence introduced into the committee hearing record, how-
SSK^i 18 Ration was false. Committee investi-
gation disclosed that, following Jones' election as grand dragon in
™5S ?i 4 b h , e receive d thousands of dollars from the sale of klan
mSSiSf /T t WeP 5 a i s ? 1 used *?. purchase for him a Cadillac auto-
mobile and a truck used at klan rallies. Two bank accounts in the name

Tlltt I'UKSIONT DAY KU KLUX KUAN MOVEMENT

139

of the North Carolina Realm had deposits in excess of $20,000. At the
same time, per capita taxes on membership were being deposited into
the grand dragon's personal bank account or cashed by him at gasoline
stations and other business establishments. In addition, nearly 200
klaverns which were known to have operated in North Carolina had
income which, in the aggregate, was probably in the neighborhood of
$100,000. Many of the klaverns, furthermore, owned or were in the
process of purchasing valuable real estate.

Despite this, as already noted in this report, Imperial Wizard
Shelton stated to a representative of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
that Federal taxes were not payable by the North Carolina Realm be-
cause it was not an "organization" and had no funds, income, or ex-
penses. In addition, Shelton failed to include income from the North
Carolina Realm on corporate tax returns filed with the Federal Gov-
ernment on behalf of the national klan organization.

Thus a State organization is represented by the klan as autonomous,
or as a mere geographical subdivision, depending on which view best |
serves klan needs of the moment. Denial of assets and liabilities not
only eliminates tax payments but also the disclosure of locations of
klaverns and the identity of klansmen charged with financial responsi-
bilities on State or local levels. By giving the appearance of complying
with Federal and State laws governing corporate organizations, klans
can assume an air of legality while taking care that the bulk of their \l
membership and operations remains submerged from public view.

Acts of physical violence engaged in by klansmen are, of course,
punishable under the criminal laws of every State. A survey 2 of
statutes in the 11 Southern States which were members of the Con-
federacy showed that all but one 3 also have antimasking laws, di-
rectly designed to curb klan-type terrorism. In a number of these
States (Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Virginia,
for example), there are laws regulating cross-burnings. The States of
Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia have additional laws
penalizing acts of terrorism and intimidation usually associated with
klans, whether or not disguises are worn.

North Carolina statutes include a prohibition against the formation
of and membership in secret "political" societies and secret "military"
societies which have as a purpose the violation or circumvention of
State laws. All types of secret societies in the State are furthermore
required by law to post plainly visible signs outside their meeting
places, identifying the organization and its secretary or other officer.

Many municipalities have also enacted laws specifically related to
klan-type activity.

Federal Actions Involving Klansmen

In the recent past, the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted
membersof various klan organizations for violation of sections of the
Criminal Code (title 18 of the United States Code) .

Section 241 of title 18 (Conspiracy Against Rights of Citizens)
provides 3

If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any
citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege securer! to him

2 Murray, Pauli, Ed., "States' Laws on Race and Color," 1952, and Supplement, 1055,
were consulted, in addition to indexes to State codes.

3 Mississippi is the exception.

98-436 O — 68-

-10

110

TUN IMUCHKNT DAY

KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so
exercised the same ; or

If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of
another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any
right or privilege so secured —

They shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than ten
years, or both.

A Federal indictment filed October 16, 1964, as previously men-
tioned, charged Herbert Guest, James Lackey, Cecil William Myers,
Denver W. Phillips, Joseph Howard Sims, and George Hampton Tur-
ner with violations of section 241. All of these men were members of
the United Klans of America, operating in the area of Athens, Ga.,
and the indictment accused them of conspiracy to violate the civil
rights of Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, who was murdered on a Georgia high-
way in July 1964. Two of the above-named defendants, Sims and
Myers, had been brought to trial in a State court on murder charges
and acquitted by a jury in September 1964. The U.S. Supreme Court,
m a decision of March 28, 1966, 4 upheld the right of the Federal Gov-
ernment to prosecute the defendants under section 241 of title 18 of the
United States Code. In a trial subsequent to this decision, Sims and
Myers were convicted on these Federal conspiracy charges and the
remaining four defendants were acquitted.

On March 28, 1966, the Supreme Court had also agreed 5 that the
Federal Government had jurisdiction to prosecute a group of Missis-
sippi terrorists under sections 241 and 242 of title 18 of the United
States Code. The defendants included officials of the White Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan and three law-enforcement officers, who were
charged with conspiracy to violate the civil rights of three civil rights
7«£ ^£s found murdered near Philadelphia, Miss., in the summer of
1?S V:??i .£ "» defendants in Federal court is still pending. Section
242 of title 18 of the United States Code provides that :

Whoever under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom,
S lly subjects any inhabitant of any State, Territory, or District to the depri-
vation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected bv the Con-
stitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments pSns or
S^SS e %° Q aC0(mnt ° f -v SUch inhab *tant being an alien, or by reason of his color
SuSmS nS**? 8 pr ? ral 5 d f ? r *"* P^ishment of citizens, shall be fined not more
than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Another milestone in Federal legal action against klan terrorism
was reached in December 1965 when a three-judge Federal court in
^^^La-^fsued an injunction ordering the Original Knights
ft? r ? lux .^ an and "its du mmy front,* the Anti-Communist
Christian Association, to halt acts of terror and intimidation in
.bogalusa, 1a. In an opinion delivered prior to the injuction order, the

finmn?oi%t?.n g f ran -M the j^ uncti0 ? P ra y e <l *°r, we rest our conclusions on the
S? i ? S * °\ fact that > within the meaning of the Civil Rights Acts of 1<W7 nnri i<wu
the defendant have adopted a pattern and p^acttce^^tafi a ittIStoi?S ,
S C f°hl rC -^ ^f.° C l tiZens in Washington Parish for the purpose o ^ iSferTng
with the civil rights of the Negro citizens. imeriermg

wfwf f ° rmS °/ ?- an [ ntim !dation, including acts of physical vio-
\Z I 6 T %° U ^i - m the , Opmion > which ideated that the terror-
ism was sp ecifically directed at interference with rights of Negroes to

* U.S. v. Guest.
6 U.S. v. Price.

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

141

use public facilities and public accommodations, to register and vote,
arid to obtain equal employment opportunities.

Committee Hearings on Klan Organizations

The Committee on Un-American Activities voted on March 30,

1965, to proceed with a full-scale investigation and hearings with re-
spect to ku klux klan organizations in the United States. The vote
followed a report by Chairman Willis on the results of a preliminary
staff study of the klan movement. In announcing the committee's de-
cision, Chairman Willis declared :

Based on the committee's preliminary study, it is my conviction that klanism
is incompatible with Americanism, that it is doing injury to our Nation and, in
particular to the South which it claims to protect and defend. I am convinced
that the South and the entire Nation will be much better off if all klan influence
is ended, once and for all.

The committee's investigation culminated in a series of public hear-
ings which began on October 19, 1965, and concluded February 24,

1966. Present or former officers of klan organizations comprised the
bulk of witnesses interrogated at these hearings, which have been
termed "investigative hearings" to distinguish them from commit-
tee hearings in July 1966 on proposed new Federal laws to curb the
type of terrorism documented in the investigative hearings.

When the subcommittee conducting the hearings recessed on Novem-
ber 9, 1965, Congressman Willis, chairman of the subcommittee as
well as the full committee, made the following assessment of the re-
sults of testimony received in 1965 :

Already, there have been positive results flowing from this investigation. The
so-called Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klans is no longer so invisible. There
have been defections from this empire. The Federal Communications Commis-
sion has undertaken a study of the misuse of citizens band radios, and I am
sure that other agencies of the executive branch will want to take action as a
result of some of the facts developed by the committee. It is our intention, in
due time, to submit certain parts of our record to the Internal Revenue Service,
the FCC, and the Veterans' Administration, for example, for appropriate
action. * * *

Previous chapters of this report have called attention to apparent
violations of Internal Kevenue laws in the filing of tax returns by klan
officers. The use of high-frequency citizens band radios, which the
committee demonstrated were employed by klansmen to avoid detec-
tion when holding secret conclaves or engaging in acts of terrorism,
require licenses issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
Another Federal agency, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the
Treasury Department, issues licenses to gun dealers, in whose ranks
were klansmen who proceeded to make firearms available to other
klansmen at low prices and who did not keep records which would
betray the identity of the klansmen purchasers. By appearing as a
witness without the use of canes, a United Klans grand dragon added
to evidence which the committee had gathered regarding his efforts to
deceive the Veterans' Administration. The klan officer had been re-
ceiving a sizable monthly disability compensation from that Govern-
ment agency. /

Following the close of the committee's public investigative hearings,
the committee extended its full cooperation to all agencies of Govern-

142

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

ment — Federal and State — which expressed interest in the product of
its investigative endeavors.

The committee conducted its investigations and public hearings ever
mindful that its primary responsibility is to inform the U.S. Congress
on the nature and extent of problems arising out of current ku klux
klan activity in the various States. With the information now at its
command, the Congress is in a better position to evaluate the necessity
for remedial legislation in this field.

The committee is hopeful that its published hearings and this report
will also contribute to a better appreciation on the part of the Ameri-
can public of the evil inherent in modern klancraf t.

At the close of the committee's investigative hearings on February
\24, 1966, Congressman Weltner noted that most of the members of the
subcommittee conducting the hearings represented Southern States.
He appealed to citizens of that region to look at the facts and deter-
mine "whether or not the Klan is going to govern community affairs
in the South, or whether it will be the people of the South." He
continued :

So, the challenge now passes from Congress and it is placed directly into the
hands of the people of the South. I for one am confident that Southern people
are 'anxious to make their own decisions; that they desire the democratic
processes to be operative ; and they desire that the problems of the South, how-
ever pressing and compelling they may be, be determined within the framework
of the Constitution of the United States, in accordance with the laws of the
United States and in accordance with the free expression of public opinion.

I do not believe that Southerners really want to turn those decisions over to
any group of hooded, hidden, terroristic, anonymous men.

After observing that klan officials had for the most part remained
silent in response to committee questioning, another member of the
subcommittee, Congressman Buchanan, declared that the subcommittee
was forced to certain conclusions regarding klan organizations :

We are, therefore, forced to the conclusion that the traditional ugly image of
the Ku Klux Klan is essentially valid— preaching love and peace, yet practicing
hatred and violence; claiming fidelity to the Constitution, yet systematically
abrogating the constitutional rights of other citizens — indeed, the very con-
stitutional rights and privileges they themselves cling to and have hidden behind
in the course of these hearings ; and taking the law into their own hands to pass
judgment and administer penalties. Their record seems clearly one of moral
bankruptcy and of staggering hypocrisy.

Congressman Pool, as acting chairman of the subcommittee, sum-
marized the hearing record:

As far as I am concerned, and all members of the subcommittee share my view,
the conduct of Klansmen and Klan leaders both on the witness stand and outside
the hearing room — and the facts placed in this hearing record — have completely
exploded the Klan's phony claims about 100 percent Americanism, patriotism,
their being law-abiding, and so forth.

*******

The record is not a pretty one. It is a record of floggings, beatings, killings,
of talk of and plans to assassinate public figures and others for no other reason
than the color of their skin or the fact that they disapprove of the ideas, policies,
and activities of the Klans. It is a record of the activities of sneaky, cowardly
men, taking advantage of the cover of night and superiority in numbers to intimi-
date and do physical violence to young and old, male and female. It is a record
of hatred, a record of double-dealing, of quarreling and fighting over spoils, of
leaders deceiving followers, a record that no real American could be proud of.

The dangers which an unrestrained and growing klan movement
poses to a free and democratic society were described to members of the

THE PRESENT DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT

143

House of Representatives by the committee's chairman on April 14,
1965. Chairman Willis declared on this occasion that :

Any group that engages in organized, large-scale intimidation in the political,
economic and social fields and terrorizes individuals and groups attacks the very
root of the democratic process. It does so because it destroys freedom and, with-
out free citizens, our representative form of government is not secure and cannot
be preserved.

When large numbers of people in any part of our country, regardless of race,
color or religion, fear physical, economic or social injury if they dare to speak as
they honestly feel, to patronize such businesses as they wish, to vote unhesi-
tatingly for any candidate of their choice, then, I say, the very foundation of
our form of government is being attacked, weakened and undermined. If such
a condition is allowed to continue and to spread, it could lead eventually to the
end of the form of government guaranteed by our Constitution and to the imposi-
tion of a national tyranny based on fear in its stead.

Democracy cannot coexist with terror. The two are incompatible. One or the
other must go.

In view of klan incursions into Northern as well as Southern States,
and very recent membership increases in States located on both sides
of the Mason-Dixon Line, the committee herewith appeals for a re-
jection of klans and their methods by all citizens of these United States.

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Full text of "The present-day Ku Klux Klan movement; report, Ninetieth Congress, first session. Part 1."

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